Snowbarry- Season 2
by Write-To-You
Summary: (Read Snowbarry- Season 1 first) Time to continue the storyline of Caitlin and Barry's relationship throughout the next season of the Flash! NOW COMPLETE!
1. 2x01

**Author's Note: HELLO EVERYONE! I AM BACK!**

 **Before everyone get's too excited PLEASE READ THIS!: It's Day 1 of a very busy week for this shipper: Snowbarry Appreciation Week! Because I was stupid this year, I had nothing prepared to post.**

 **Except, wait, I remembered I did. Now, don't go all crazy on me- It's just the first chapter, and the second probably won't be posted in awhile. BUT! This is to keep you going and to give you some resolve from that awful cliffy I left you with.**

 **So, with no further ado... I give you SNOWBARRY- SEASON 2:**

 _Barry whizzed around, avoiding blasts from Snart and Mick's guns. He shot up a building, then came around for another pass, grabbing Mick so he couldn't get shot. Snart fired his gun, barely missing Mick, and Barry dashed around to the safety of a car, cold seeping thought the cloth at his shoulder._

 _And explosion knocked Snart off of his feet, sending him tumbling. Barry was by his side, cold gun in his hands in seconds. It fell apart with a few quick pulls._

 _A noise from above made him glance up. "I was late again, wasn't I?" Firestorm grinned down at him, flaming._

 _Barry beamed back. "Right on time."_

 _Firestorm shot up into the sky with a whoop, and Barry followed him back to STAR Labs. Cisco was grinning. "Two down at the same time." He clapped Barry's hand. "Superhero double play, baby!"_

 _"_ _Couldn't have done it alone." He smiled._

 _Caitlin walked up and kissed him. He took her hand and rubbed his fingers over the beautiful diamond ring on her left hand. "You're never alone, Barry." She murmured._

 _"_ _Nether are you, Mrs. Allen." Barry kissed her again, smiling._

 _"_ _Snart_ and _Rory." Joe shook his head in admiration. "You're gonna put a cop like me out of a job." He gave Barry a hug, which the latter eagerly returned, overflowing with happiness._

 _"_ _Just trying to help." Barry said modestly._

 _"_ _You do more then help, Barry." Iris walked in. "You give the people of this city hope."_

 _Eddie clapped him on the shoulder. "You're the hero Barry."_

 _"_ _Congratulations, everyone!" Dr. Wells rolled in on his wheelchair, clapping lightly. "A spectacular victory. A milestone if you will." Wells shook his head in amazement. "Mr. Allen, I believe their's nothing left I can teach you. I believe," He stood up, now looking a little less happy. "That you are ready to do all of this on your own."_

Barry blinked, and STAR Labs, the real one, devoid of people and happiness, came back into view. He glanced around at the empty room, trying to rid his mind of all the memories.

A beeping from on of Cisco's old computers made him look over. He raced over to his suit and flashed off again, out of STAR Labs, into the city to fight whatever was waiting for him.

It had been 6 months since the singularity, and Barry was alone now. He knew it was better off that way. Everyone was better off that way. It kept everyone safe. Which was all that he wanted.

Which is what he had failed to do.

 _6 months ago..._

Barry pulled Caitlin into his side and kissed her, then he flashed off, up towards the singularity. She moved foreword, trying to call him back, but Cisco grabbed her arm and forced her to say.

There was now a yellow blur in the singularity's center. "Brilliant" Stein exclaimed in excitement. "He's containing the singularity by adding to it's angular momentum!"

Caitlin had no idea what that meant, but Cisco seemed to get it. He held his phone up to his mouth, comm app up. "Barry! It's stabilizing! Keep doing what you're doing!"

"I'm not sure how much longer I can." Barry's voice sounded faint, but she closed her eyes, listening to it. "Cisco!"

"Now what?" Joe asked.

"We have to merge the inner and outer event horizons." Stein informed him.

"How will we do that?" Ronnie rested his hand on Caitlin's shoulder.

Stein paused for a moment, and when he spoke, his voice was considerably less excited then before. "By separating in the eye of it. The amount of energy from the fissure should do the trick."

Caitlin grabbed her brother's hand, wordlessly pleading with him not to leave her. "It's our only hope, Ronald." Stein said quietly.

"Ronnie, no!" Caitlin hated herself for being selfish, but she had already lost him once. She could do it again. "It's too dangerous. What if you can't escape the inlash?"

"Cait." He murmured, squeezing her shoulders. "We have to try."

Those words would be the death of her, Caitlin knew that for sure. Ronnie grabbed her in a tight hug, and kissed her forehead. Then he and Stein merged into Firestorm. He flew off, and Caitlin was left feeling cold and alone.

Now there was a small dot of flame inside the swirling pool of the singularity. Caitlin bit back a sob and grasped unto Cisco like a lifeline.

And then it was over. A blinding flash, and the swirling stopped, leaving a dark mass of clouds hovering over the collapsing city. A streak of something that could only have been Barry ran down a building and disappeared. Caitlin lurched forward, and followed the others, running around the corner.

There was no Ronnie. Stein was up against the wall, and Joe ran over to his side, checking on him. Caitlin eyes filled with tears and Barry shook his head and held out his arms. "I'm so sorry."

She fell into them, burying her face in his shoulder as her cheeks became wet with tears.

 _Present time..._

Caitlin clasped her hands neatly in front of her as she glanced around. The entire city _must_ have been there, because the masses of people had stopped cars at least 30 city blocks away from the heart of the Flash Day festival.

To think she had almost not been one of those people. Barry- the Flash, whatever- had been her hero, not to mention her boyfriend. And she was going to miss the day that he deserved so much? The day where the city finally said one giant thank you? She would have to thank her co-worker at Mercery Labs for talking her out of staying home.

Red and yellow _everything_ was scattered around. From Flash balloons to T-shirts, Central City had really gone all out. She wondered, for a moment, if Joe and Cisco where somewhere in the crowd. She wasn't sure if she wanted them to be, not wanting to get into a conversation at the moment.

It hurt her, deep inside her chest, remember those few amazing months of helping the Flash. After Ronnie... After the singularity, Barry had pushed everyone away, including her. Caitlin missed him, him and his smile and his laugh and his stupid, beautiful need to save everyone, all the time.

The crowd around her started to cheer, and she moved a few steps closer to the stage. The Mayor was starting his speech. "Good morning, Central City!" He looked grandly out for a moment, drinking in the attention. "A year ago, our world changed. Our city became Ground 0 for... some pretty weird stuff. We got a new breed of criminal. Men and woman who defied not only the law, but physics, and reason."

The crowd, for such a large one, was very quiet, remember all of the things it had gone through in the past year. Caitlin was, too. She was also remembering how his brown hair felt under her fingertips, smooth and soft, his hands on her hips, mouth on hers, one last time...

"But!" The Mayor broke her out of her thoughts. "We got something else, too. We got.. the Flash!" The crowd exploded in cheers. The Mayor let it ring for a moment, but soon continued. "Our wounds run deep. And I know many of you are afraid of what threats tomorrow might bring. But the Flash doesn't just protect us. He restores hope where it is lost."

The Mayor now held up a gold object. "That's why I'm honored to present the key to the man who saved Central City, the Flash!"

Once again, the crowd exploded, and Caitlin felt a small smile crossing her face. If Barry was here- she wasn't sure if he was or not- he would be so embarrassed. Those dark green eyes would shift downward, and his cheeks would flush, and he would shuffle his feet and rub the back of his neck. She missed him more then anything, right now.

And then, after a painful pause, there he was. Caitlin bit her lip, _hard_ , and covered her mouth with her hand. He was so close, she could have just run up on that stage and kissed him. But she couldn't.

Barry looked around him in amazement as the crowd began to yell his name. Tears welled in Caitlin's eyes as she remembered their night together at the Dive Bar. _Barry! Barry! Barry! Look at him go, he's so fast- oh shhhhh!_

On the stage, Barry raised his arm, waving to the crowd with a smile, contented smile on his face. His eyes ran over the faces, looking for one in particular. Where was his Caitlin?

"The doors of Central City will forever be open for you, Flash." The Mayor said when the cheers had quieted down. "Thank you." He reached over and handed the speedster the golden key.

Then the entire crowd fell into chaos, and Caitlin found herself pushed along with the crowds, until her only sight of Barry in 6 months was knocked out of view.

 **Flash!**

Caitlin was in her lab, working on the new serum Mercury Labs was developing. She looked up at a knock at the door, and her heart did a strange, abnormal, _Whadump_. "What are you doing here?" Caitlin breathed, drinking in his features, the dark hair, combed, as usual, his green eyes, staring straight into her's.

Barry shifted away from his leaning position against the wall, and moved slowly into the room. "Sorry, I should have called, or, something, I just- I wanted to see you."

She wanted to throw herself into his arms and kiss him for all it was worth, but it was right. They weren't there, yet. "It's been awhile."

He walked closer, to stand in front of her. "Yeah. Um, Cisco said that he saw you at the Flash day celebration." The unspoken was telling her that he had looked, but hadn't seen her himself. "I was surprised."

She titled her head with a little sigh. "You of all people know that- that I wasn't the hero that day." Barry broke eye contact, looking at his shoes.

Even after all this time, he was still the same, modest Barry. "Of course you were." She breathed.

"No." He shook his head. "Cait- Ronnie died for me, and I- I should have saved him and I'm... I'm so _sorry_."

"Barry, I know that you did everything you could." And just because she hadn't seen him in so long, she reached out her hand and brushed the back of it along his cheekbone.

He sighed quietly, and leaned into her fingers. "It wasn't you're fault." Caitlin continued, tears welling in her eyes, choking her throat. "I don't blame you for Ronnie's death. I blame myself."

His eyes met her's once again, watery. "Why?"

"When Ronnie first became Firestorm, he asked me to leave Central City." She took a deep breath, getting a hold of herself. "He wanted to go somewhere where we could start up a normal life, as siblings." Caitlin shook her head, tears spilling down her cheeks now. "I said no! I- I couldn't leave STAR Labs, Dr. Wells... you."

It was his turn to touch her, taking her hand and pressing the fingers to his lips. She inhaled sharply at the contact, bliss spreading up her arm, muddling her brain. "If I had gone with him, Ronnie would still be alive. Being at STAR Labs just made me think of that _every single day_."

Barry reached into his pocket, and she could see his fingers shaking. "Here." He extended his hand to her.

She laughed at what she saw. "You carry a handkerchief now? What are you, 80?"

He smiled, and handed her the cloth. As she wiped her eyes, a small piece of plastic clattered to the floor. "What's that?"

"Uh, it's uh, apparently, with his death, Wells had some sort of a living will."

Caitlin nodded in understanding. "And you haven't watched it yet?"

Barry glanced at his hand, at the small, entirely terrifying drive. "No." He murmured. "I've- I guess I've been.. to afraid?"

Caitlin, still holding his hand, gave it an understanding squeeze. "What if we watched it together?"

"Alright." Barry whispered, and she tugged gently on his hand, leading him to the nearest computer. He plugged in the drive, and the computer downloaded the material on it with agonizing slowness.

And then there was Dr. Wells. He took off his glassed, rubbed his face, and started. "Hello, Barry. If you're watching this, that means something has gone horribly wrong. I'm dead, and the last 15 years have been for nothing. Bummer."

He laughed his quiet laugh, and Caitlin shivered. "15 years. And what I've realized, with all those years, helping raise you, we were never truly enemies, Barry. I'm not the thing you hate. And so, I'm going to give you the thing that you want most." Barry's eyes were dark with anger, and Caitlin took his hand again, rubbing her thumb across the top knuckles.

"It doesn't matter." Wells continued. "You can never be truly happy, Barry Allen- Trust me. I know you. Now." He clicked something on his small remote. "Erase everything I said up to this point, and give the following message to the police." Caitlin's heart thudded in her chest. She knew what was about to happen, and she couldn't quite believe it.

Barry had a death grip on her hand. "My name is Harrison Wells. Being of sound mind and body, I feely confess to the murder of Nora Allen, in her home, on the night of March 18th, in the year 2000."

"Oh my gosh." Caitlin murmured, as Wells talked on with the details of the murder. "He confessed."

Barry's eyes were filled with tears as he turned to look at her. "This is it." He started to stand, pulling her up with him. "This is what I need to free my dad!"

Barry pulled out his phone, and clicked on a contact. "Hey, yeah, hey Joe. Can you have everyone meet me at STAR Labs? Yeah. Alright, thanks, yeah. Bye." After he had hung up he grabbed Caitlin's hand again and hugged her.

She pressed her face into the soft cotton of his shirt, breathing him in. His arms were strong and warm, and tight around her back, and it was everything that she had remembered and more. "I missed you, Barry Allen." Caitlin whispered.

"I missed you, too, Cait." He pulled back and took a deep breath.

She smiled gently at him. "I'll drive."

 **Flash!**

They were all waiting in STAR Labs when Barry got back from the CCPD. "Is it good news?" Caitlin asked, a little on the nervous side.

"I think so." Barry said, looking shocked.

"Henry's coming home?" Iris grabbed her friend in a hug, and Barry beamed at Caitlin from over her shoulder.

When Iris had finally let go, Barry turned to the matter of the meta-human. "So. Geomancer. How are we going to beat him."

"Well.." Caitlin tilted her head, glancing at Cisco. "Ever since I was shown the drain radiation tag, which I haven't been able to stop thinking about." She glared at her friend. "Thank you Cisco."

"You're welcome Caitlin." He responded, goofily pointing at her.

"If this guy likes radiation so much, I say we give it to him." Caitlin suggested.

Barry started to nod in agreement. Before they got to work, he looked them both in the eye seriously. "Guys, I just want to tell you... you two are the best friends, other then Iris, that I have ever known. I'm never pushing you away like that again."

Cisco clapped Barry on the shoulder, then paused. "Would I be correct in assuming that Caitlin is more of your best friend then I am?"

"It's.. different." Barry wrinkled his nose.

"Heck, yeah, it's different!" Cisco exclaimed, looking weirded out for a moment. "You two do things that are not happening with me. Never. Ever."

"Way to wreck the moment, Cisco." Caitlin smiled, reaching out and rubbed Barry's arm with the palm of her hand. "And the same goes for me, really. - _No Cisco_ , not what you are thinking.- I shoved you both out of my life because it was all just to _painful_. But now I see that you guys to take away the pain, not cause it."

"Aww..." Cisco said. "We're so sappy."

Barry laughed, and grabbed Caitlin's hand. "Come on. Let's stop this meta."

 **Flash!**

WELCOME HOME, HENRY!

The banner was in cursive, and in purple and pink, which Caitlin thought was a little strange (until she found out that Iris had made the poster). Joe welcomed her into the West house with a hug and a "I missed you being here", and she nearly started crying right then and there.

Cisco, Iris, Joe, even Stein and his wife, Clarissa were there. They were all bubbling with excited energy, released in one giant, "WELCOME HOME!" When Henry Allen walked through the door.

He looked so surprised it was kind of cute. Then a huge smile spread across his face, and he grasped Joe in a hug.

They had gotten a cake, which looked remarkably similar to the banner, and it was cut into while everyone hugged Henry. And each other. Actually, there was just a whole lot of hugging involved.

When Caitlin hugged Henry, he asked, "Are you and Barry still a couple? I haven't- I haven't seen much of him in a few months. I'm guessing that it's survivors guilt."

"Yeah." She murmured. "Yeah, he loves caking on the survivors guilt." She accepted Joe's offer of champagne with a smile. Her eyes found Barry's form, talking with Iris across the room. "I don't know what we are right now. We're... we're healing."

"Healing's great." Henry placed a hand on her shoulder. "But I will give you some honest advice. Barry needs you. So don't heal too long."

She smiled, and gave him another hug. "I'm glad that you're here."

"Me too, Caitlin. Me too."

Barry walked over to hug his dad again, and Caitlin laced their fingers together, sipping at her drink.

A ring of glass shushed them for a moment. Stein was hitting his glass with his fingernail, asking for quiet. "Gather round, please." They all moved so they were standing around the coffee table. Caitlin was sandwiched between Barry, hands still intertwined, and Cisco.

"Looking at all of you," Stein started his toast. "Thinking how far we've all come, and remember those who are no longer with us, I'm reminded of a Hebrew word, used during times of graduation. Kadema." The word rang out in the silence of the living room. "It means 'Foreword'." Stein raised his glass. "Foreword."

They all raised their glasses, repeated the one, small, powerful word. Barry turned to her, and tilted her chin. "Foreword." He whispered.

She kissed him before he had the chance, and it was the most amazing thing she had felt in a long time.

 **Author's Note: And there you have it! I think that this has been one of my favorites that I have ever written in this series.**

 **But I don't know. Maybe that's not true :)**


	2. 2x02

**Author's Note: #2 is here! You guys will be treated to some Jealous!Barry, and a tidbit of Jealous!Caitlin , so have fun :D**

Barry immediately didn't like Jay Garrick. He didn't trust him, or believe him, or think he was cool, or want him to be his mentor, or anything like that. Fine, people could say that he didn't trust anymore, because of Dr. Wells, and maybe that was true. He still didn't like him.

Caitlin was... in the middle. Barry obviously thought that Jay was hiding something, and so she wasn't going to be completely on board with him right away. But at the same time.. he deserved a chance to prove himself.

"Have you found _anything_ that would point to him being a speedster?" Barry asked, leaning against Cisco's desk, and glancing through the glass door to her lab, where Jay was sitting.

"He does have regenerative abilities." Caitlin confirmed. "Other then that, I'm not seeing any evidence of the Speed Force in his system."

"We don't even have proof that he's a Speedster, much less from another earth?" Barry raised an eyebrow, his face making it very clear that he wasn't being ridiculously paranoid- the other's were simply being to lenient.

"Not necessarily." Caitlin admitted.

"What does that mean?"

"Well, Jay doesn't know this, but while I was testing his heart rate, pressure and motor responses, I also measured his autonomic reactions while we were talking." Caitlin shrugged guiltily.

Iris came up and stood next to them, just in time to hear the tail end of Caitlin's sentence. "You gave him a lie detector test?"

"And he passed it." Caitlin shrugged, and Barry glanced over at the possible-Speedster again.

"What if he's not a good guy, and he's just here to find out our weaknesses?" Even to his ears it seemed like a stretch. "Keep running tests, see what else you can find out, and be careful, ok? If he tries _anything_ -"

"Ok." Caitlin agreed, and Barry pecked her lips before flashing out.

Iris leaned against the wall, staring at the spot Barry had been thoughtfully. "You know, Caitlin, I don't know if Barry's just suspicious of Jay."

"What do you mean?" Caitlin tilted her head, and now it was her turn to sneak a peek at the blond man in her lab.

"I think he might be jealous." Iris smirked.

Caitlin choked for a second, and stared at her, open mouthed. "J-Jealous? Why on _Earth_ would _Barry_ be _jealous_?!"

"Because Jay's cute, obviously. And you're spending time running tests on him while his shirt's off. Boyfriends don't really like that."

"Oh." Caitlin peeped. "I don't- there's nothing- Jay and I-"

" _I_ know that." Iris interrupted. "But Barry... he's Barry."

Caitlin sighed, and Iris gave her one last smile, before turning and walking out into the hallway. Caitlin turned, too, and resignedly moved back into her lab.

 **Flash!**

So now Jay was apart of Team Flash? Caitlin wasn't quite sure when that had happened. She also wasn't quite sure if she wanted it to happen. Barry always seemed on edge when he was around, and, if Iris was right, Barry was jealous. Caitlin didn't want him to think that he had anything to worry about with Jay around. She just hadn't had the chance to assure him of that, yet.

"The metahuman's cells have the ability to rearrange and harden giving them the appearance of sand." Jay informed them. The new metahuman, Sandstorm, Caitlin believed they were calling him, was pretty much a moving piece of sand, that could turn into sandstone at inopportune times so that it could punch Barry in the face. Pleasant.

"And.. how do you know this?" Barry asked suspiciously.

"It belonged to a metahuman I've fought before named Sandy."

"Mine name is better." Muttered Cisco. "Is that Barry's sweatshirt?"

"Oh, uh, sorry, it was all I could find." Iris stared at the floor.

"I was gonna say," Cisco said tactlessly. "Because it looks _a lot_ smaller on you."

The look on Barry's face was so miserable that Caitlin had to step in. "Actually, _Cisco_ , I think that sweatshirt looks really good on Barry." She reached out and took Barry's hand, letting him know that no new guy was going to turn her sights from the most amazing man in the world.

Barry gave her a grateful smile, and Cisco laughed uncomfortably. "You know what? I gotta... do this thing." He booked it out of the Cortex, causing Caitlin to roll her eyes at her friends unintentional antics.

Iris broke the uncomfortable silence. "So... who is this Sandy?"

"I don't know his name." Jay admitted. "But I know how to stop him."

"And that is something we can use!" Caitlin put it, smiling at Barry.

To her confusion, he didn't look happy (and people say _girls_ are confusing!). "You know what? I think we'll be fine on our own."

It was later proved that Jay was right, but Barry _still_ didn't seem to be mollified. Caitlin was starting to be really confused.

 **Flash!**

"So..." Cisco leaned against the desk of STAR Labs, and raised his eyebrows. "Joe said that there was a new girl at the CCPD."

"Really?" Caitlin narrowed her eyes, and sent a significant glance at Barry.

"Oh, yeah! Patty Spivot." Barry grinned. "She's really good."

"I _see_." Cisco made the word sound like it had a hundred and 2 'e's in it. "Is she cute?"

"Cute? I dunno. I guess." Barry shrugged. "She want's to join Joe's task force."

Caitlin crossed her arms and bit back a humph. She now understood perfectly how Barry felt when he saw her and Jay. The thought made her feel like she was betraying Barry's trust. It wasn't like he was going to, what? break up with her to go date this Patty girl? That was ridiculous.

"You think she has a thing for engineers?" Cisco waggled his eyebrows and ran a finger through his hair. "Or long hair."

Caitlin snorted, and the slight tension in the room melted away. Barry laughed, and punched Cisco's shoulder. "I'm thinking maybe you should meet her first, dude."

"What? And let you have all the fun?"

Now Barry looked confused. "What do you mean? I already have a girlfriend."

Cisco's eyes widened dramatically. "Oh! You two are still- right! I thought maybe after- ok, yeah, sorry about that, I didn't know, gosh, sorry..." He turned red.

Caitlin laughed quietly. "It's ok, Cisco. We weren't, at first, I guess, but..."

"We're still dating." Barry kissed Caitlin's cheek.

"You just _had_ to demonstrate, didn't you." Cisco looked disgusted. "Guh. I'm outta here." He ran out of the room before they could call him back.

Barry shook his head fondly. "He will never change, will he?"

"I sure hope not." Caitlin smiled. "Now, just for clarification, does this Patty know that you already have a girlfriend?"

"Huh?" Barry frowned. "You think that she's going to make a move on me?"

Caitlin reached over and smoothed the front of his collared shirt, even if it was only something to do. "Well, you're a handsome young man, and girls tend you like handsome young men. You work on the force, so she knows you're smart-"

"And she _did_ say she had read all of my case files..." Barry muttered.

Caitlin pulled up short. "Are you positive this girl isn't a stalker?"

Barry laughed, and kissed her. "I'm sure." His phone buzzed, and he sighed as he pulled it out. "It's Joe. I'll see you later."

"Bye. Tell him hello for me." Barry flashed out, and Caitlin, after a moments hesitation, hopped on one of Cisco computers to find out everything she could about Patty Spivot. If she was being overprotective, she didn't particularly care.

 **Flash!**

"We're scientists!" Barry yelled, making them all jump. "We _test_ things. That's what we do!" He turned on Caitlin. "Have you found one thing to suggest that the Speed Force has ever been inside Jay?"

She shook her head, not wanting to voice the negative and give him more fuel for his anger. "I don't understand," Barry continued, voice rising more. "Why I am the only one here not immediately jumping on the fact that there are _other Earths_. I mean, for real?"

"Can I talk to you, for a moment." Caitlin requested, staring daggers at Barry. Everyone else in the room got out quickly, giving them space.

"What has happened to you?" Caitlin asked quietly sitting down on the top of her desk.

"Me?" Barry gave her an incredulous look.

"Yes. You. The you that I've known, the you I fell- the you that's my boyfriend. The you that became the Flash! I haven't see that you in a _very_ long time, Barry. I miss that you."

"A lot has changed, Caitlin." Barry shrugged, not meeting her eyes.

"Yeah, it sure has." She agreed unhappily. "You have learned how to not trust people." He didn't respond. "What is it about Jay that you don't like?"

"I don't know." Barry glared right back at her. "What is it about him that you like so much?"

"No, that's not what this is about." Caitlin snapped, suddenly angry. "Iris said that your jealous-"

"Jealous?!" Barry cried.

She cut him off. "Yeah. Jealous. If you think that a random stranger can waltz in here, and knock me off my feet that easily, then you don't know me at all."

"I know." Barry murmured, staring at his shoes. "I know, I don't. I'm sorry."

"It's not just jealously, though, Barry. It's because he reminds you of Harrison Wells." Caitlin got up and walked closer to him, laying her hand on his knee.

"I trusted that man for months- we all did." Barry said quietly. He shook his head. "And you know what? Ronnie is dead. Eddie is dead. And a whole lot of other people in this city; they're dead, because we trusted him. I'm not gonna let us make that mistake again."

Caitlin forcefully resisted the urge to cry, and sat down next to him. "Barry. Not everyone is Harrison Wells. Besides, you defeated him _because_ you trusted in people. _Because_ you believed in them. This team that you've created, they will follow your lead. They will do what you say. If they think think that you don't believe in them, though, it won't be long before they don't believe in you."

"What about you?" Barry whispered, taking her hand and rubbing it between his two larger ones.

"Barry..." Caitlin rested her head on his shoulder. "I'll _always_ believe in you."

 **Flash!**

Barry flashed into the warehouse, and came to a stop as quiet as he could behind some empty storage crates.. "Is that you, Flash?" The Sand Demon yelled into the silence. "Found you're way here?"

Barry looked out from behind the crate, and saw the Sand Demon turn around to face none other then Jay Garrick, helmet on. "I came quite a distance."

The villain looked terrified. He was falling for their plan. "I thought you were dead."

"You were wrong." Jay said. He started to walk around the other man, distracting him from Barry, and Patty, tied to a chair. "Like usual. Let the girl go."

"Have at it!" The Sand Demon offered. "But you touch her, and she goes _Boom!_ And I think even you aren't fast enough to save her."

The second he was in reaching distance, Jay threw a punch at his head. The Sand Demon ducked, and hit out. Jay leapt back. "Quite a bit slower on this earth, aren't you, Flash?"

 _Darn it_. Barry thought. There went their plan. Jay punched at the Sand Demon again, and his face burst into particles. It quickly reformed, and he retaliated, quickly bringing Jay to his knees.

"You don't have your speed, do you?"

"Slicks distracted, go Barry!" Cisco yelled in Barry's ear. Barry ran out from his hiding place and over to Patty's chair.

He inspected the bomb, trying to find the safest way to get her out without it going off. He ended up just grabbed her, and the whole thing exploded.

Instead of a boom, it let off a wave of energy that tossed everyone, with the exception of Slick, backward. "Barry!" Caitlin yelled in his ear.

Barry scrambled to his feet, and checked the young detective's pulse. "Patty's alive." He confirmed.

"Must be my lucky day." The Sand Demon was still on his feet, and Jay was slowly getting to his behind him. "Zoom sent me here to kill you. Now I get to kill the Flash from _two_ worlds before I go home."

Slick's hand extended, wrapping around Jay's throat. Cisco yelled unintelligibly in Barry's ear. "Barry." Caitlin instructed, voice a lot calmer then her partners. "You need to do something _now_."

The Sand Demon raised his other arm, forming it into a hammer. Jay nodded, and Barry sped off in a dizzying circle. The villain looked around in confusion, not sure where to hit. He dropped Jay. "Come on!"

Barry felt time slow down. He reached into the Speed Force, and, like he had practiced with Jay, tossed a lightning bolt directly at the Sand Demon.

The bolt hit him directly in the chest, and the once-man shattered on the ground. Barry stared at it in horror a Jay got to his feet. "You ok?" He asked.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm ok." Jay nodded. "Nice job, kid."

Caitlin leaned back in her chair and let out a breath. "Barry? Are you ok?You're both good?"

"Yeah, yeah, we're fine." Barry replied. "I'm going to bring Patty back to the CCPD, but then we're coming back."

 **Flash!**

"Hi, Jay." Caitlin smiled kindly at him as she walked into her lab. "You did a good thing today, helping Barry."

Jay nodded in acknowledged appreciation. "Thank you, Caitlin."

She nodded back. "With or without your speed, you're still a hero." Barry entered behind her, quietly, and draped his arm, heavy and warm, over her shoulders. "I'm just sorry we didn't see it sooner."

"Especially me." Barry admitted. "I should have trusted you. We've just... we've gone through a lot recently, and it's been tough."

Jay nodded again. "I get it. It can be hard to trust people, especially when those people come in with an insane story of being from another Earth."

They all laughed, and Caitlin reached up to kiss Barry's cheek. "I will leave you two speedsters alone."

"Thanks." He murmured, and leaned against the wall as she ducked out from under his arm.

Jay stared after her, and Barry felt a surge of protectiveness come out of nowhere. The older man smiled softly. "She's an amazing woman."

"Yes." Barry responded stiffly. "Yes, she is."

Jay met his gaze, and his own expression seemed to falter. "I'm getting the feeling that she's already taken."

"That makes her sound like an object." Disagreed Barry. "She's her own woman. But, yes, I'm her boyfriend."

Jay looked dismayed, and Barry confirmed his suspicions that, even after such a short time, he liked Caitlin in a way much not non-platonic for Barry's comfort. "I see." Was all Jay said. "Well, you're very lucky to have her."

"I'm reminded of that every day." Barry murmured, and turned to go. He remembered, then, what he had come in for in the first place. "By the way, Jay, thank you for your help. I really do appreciate it."

"No problem." Jay moved past him, out of Caitlin's lab, and then walked away from the Cortex entirely.

Barry leaned against the doorframe, wondering if this was going to turn into a problem he didn't need to have. He sure hoped not, for Jay's sake.

Caitlin was... Caitlin. He wasn't going to leave her for Patty, and, after their conversation earlier, he knew for sure that she wasn't going to leave him for any random man that walked through the door. He had been stupid to think that, and to let it cloud his judgment on Jay's character.

Well, it wasn't going to happen again. Jay was a perfectly fine person, and obviously only wanted to help save their earth like he had saved his own.

Right?

 **Flash! (haha, I fooled you, you thought we were done. Well, guess what, so did I. But it wasn't long enough, and this was important, so I added it :)**

"Using electro-photography, Cisco and I were able to search Central City for any signs of energy entering our earth from another dimension." Stein had called them all into the Cortex for an "urgent message". This seemed to be it, but Caitlin couldn't figure out where it was going. "Energy from any breaches as Mr. Garrick described them."

"But, of course, there isn't just 1 breach." Cisco continued. "There's 52 of them, scattered throughout the city."

Caitlin let her head fall unto Barry's shoulder. Nothing could be easy in their life, could it?

"These breaches are pockets of time and space folded into and upon itself. The most significant breach of all appears to be this one." Stein gestured to Cisco, who pressed a button on his tablet. The screen in front of them pinged a spot on the map.

"And where exactly is that located?" Caitlin asked.

"It's here. Inside STAR Labs." Barry exchanged a glance with his girlfriend and let out a sigh.

"Just beyond that breach," Martin continued, "Is an entirely diff- f-f-f-erent..."

Caitlin gasped as Martin titled sideways, and collapsed unto the floor.

 **Author's Note: Well, most of that was completely made up :P That, I think, is going to be the trend for season 2. I'm not sure if these chapters are going to be as long. Though... once Barry starts dating Patty in the cannon series, maybe we'll have** ** _those_** **scenes, and then Westallen scenes... we'll make do.**


	3. 2x03

**Author's Note: Whizzing along, as usual! I hope you guys all like this as much as season 1.**

 **I'm SO excited for episode 6! It's going to be fun :)**

"There are 52 breaches in Central City, and the biggest one just happens to be be in our basement." Barry commented dryly, joining the others in the bunker where they were all staring in slight awe at the giant, swirling blue breach.

"We need a name for it." Cisco stated.

"It's not a pet." Caitlin rolled her eyes in Barry's direction, and he laughed.

The voice she heard in response did _not_ make her happy. "No, it's a wormhole!" Professor Stein walked into the room, holding the cane that Caitlin had forced on his as soon as he had woken up.

"What are you _doing_?! You're blood pressure is 147 over 82- you could pass out again."

"It's merely a few points of the 140 average for someone my age." Stein contradicted. "Besides, I have some ideas I would like to contribute to this discussion, Dr. Snow." He sent her his stern schoolteacher look. She glared right back.

"And I want to hear them." Jay put in. Caitlin turned to glare at him now. He wasn't helping her situation. "This isn't just a wormhole." His eyes grew a little distant as he gazed at the breach. "It's my way home."

"To Earth 2." Caitlin agreed quietly. She felt really bad for Jay- stranded on this probably strange earth, with no way to return to his. 

"You really think that we can use this," Barry poked his chin towards the breach, moving to stand next to Caitlin and Dr. Stein. "as some sort of bridge to connect your world to ours?"

"Zoom uses the breaches." Jay countered. "Why can't we?"

"We don't know how." Cisco shrugged. "Everything I put through just bounces back." He bopped his hand back and forth a few times, demonstrating.

Barry crossed his arms, staring thoughtfully at the wormhole. "If Zoom's using these breaches to transfer people from Earth 2, maybe it takes a speedster."

Before anyone could contradict him, Barry had flashed up to the top of the stairs. "He's not gonna.." Cisco muttered.

Jay sighed. "Yeah, he is."

Barry threw himself at the breach, and was immediately tossed backwards. Caitlin jumped as he rolled past her feet. She gave him a condescending look, but helped him back up. "You can be very stupid sometimes."

"Maybe I'm not fast enough." Barry smiled, obviously embarrassed. Caitlin whacked him on the back of his head, and rolled her eyes.

 **Flash!**

"Caitlin..." Barry groaned. "Come on! Lets get to Jitters. Iris and Cisco are going to think we stood them up for a make-out session or something."

Caitlin snickered, and gave him a suggestive look. "Should we?" She flirted.

He laughed, and tugged on her hand. "Tempting, but I haven't gotten my coffee yet. Besides, everyone but you has tried the Flash at Jitters. I'm offended."

Caitlin rolled her eyes fondly. " _Fine_ , let's go. I'll even get a Flash, if it makes you that happy."

"It does." He beamed, and Caitlin shrieked as he picked her up and promptly flashed her to Jitters. They stopped a little bit away so no one saw them, and Caitlin grasped his shoulder to get her balance. "Sorry, I know you hate when I do that without warning." Barry grinned, not looking that sorry at all.

He held her hand all the way inside, but dropped her off to find Cisco and Iris while he went to get 4 flashes. She made her way to her seat, but paused when she saw a pretty blond nearly bump into her boyfriend.

They seemed to know each other, and Caitlin wondered if this was Patty. She sat down beside her friends, not quite responding to their hello's and watched the exchange. Iris and Cisco glanced at each other knowingly and turned to look, too.

After a few brief moments of talking, Barry came back over and sat 4 flashes down in front of them; one each. "What was that about?" Caitlin asked, voice harder then she would have liked. She didn't touch her coffee.

Barry looked confused for a moment, then looked over her shoulder and saw the retreated form of the young cop. "Oh! Oh, that was just Patty wanting to get my number. In case I have questions or something."

Caitlin cupped her mug, hiding her face behind it's giant rim. Iris, ever tactful, came to her rescue. "You _do_ realize that girl's hitting on you, right?"

Barry blinked. "Hitting on... Oh, no, no no no. She's just friendly. She'd be like that with anyone." He stared nervously over at Caitlin. "Right?"

She melted. He didn't mean any harm. "I'm sure that's it."

Barry held up his mug and they clinked them together. Caitlin glanced down at her phone. "Hey, you guys think Professor Stein is alright, right? I mean, Clarissa would call if there was anything wrong?"

"Yeah." Iris agreed immediately.

"Alright." Caitlin nodded. She moved to stand. "I'm just gonna call to check in, you know."

Barry started to speak to call her back, but she was already out of hearing range, phone to her ear. He sighed in exasperation, "I don't see that call going well."

Cisco laughed, putting on his best Stein imitation. "Young lady, these _frequent intrusions_ are disrupting my healing process."

Iris giggled, and Barry suddenly felt a little on the outside. He didn't know how much time Iris and Cisco had spent together while he was on his own, but he wondered now if they were maybe getting a little closer then he had thought. He would have to watch them more closely.

The thought made him smile, though. Iris deserved her have someone to confide in, someone who wasn't part of her family. Now that Eddie was gone... maybe Cisco would be able to fill that hole.

Caitlin came back to their table with a sour look on her face. "He said he was fine, and that I was 'disrupting his healing process'."

Cisco snorted into his coffee, and both he and Iris burst into a fresh batch of laughter. Caitlin looked at Barry in confusion, but he only smiled and shrugged, so she ended up sitting down without finding out their previous conversation. That was probably a good thing.

"I'm just worried about him!" Caitlin defended herself. "It's good for someone of his age to be collapsing."

"What if it's something to do with," Cisco lowered his voice and leaned foreword conspiratorially. "Firestorm?"

Caitlin's eyes fell to her mug, smile wiped off of her face. Barry frowned at Cisco and reached over to squeeze her hand. "I don't see what it could have to do with Firestorm." Caitlin murmured. When she looked up again, her expression was stronger. "But it's possible. We'll have to run tests, see what we can find out."

"That's the Caitlin Snow we know." Barry teased gently, knocking their shoulders together.

She just smiled, and kissed him.

Cisco picked up his drink, and was about to take a sip, when a tall woman with long, brown hair bumped into him. He managed to keep his drink from spilling and turned. "Oh! Sorry."

The woman turned, and Caitlin's eyebrows shot to her hairline. "Don't apologize." Lisa Snart said, eyes dark, face flirtatious. "You can bump into me anytime, Cisco."

Cisco narrowed his eyes. "Lisa Snart. You here to double cross us again, or are you and your big bro holding up coffee shops now?"

On her left, Caitlin saw Barry duck his face into his coffee, worried about being recognized. Personally, Caitlin knew that all of Lisa's concentration was on Cisco. She batted her eyelashes. "I need your help."

"In you're _dreams_ , Sister Cold." Cisco scoffed. "You know, I could call the Flash and he'd be here in two seconds. Probably one." Barry gave him a glare as his eyes strayed over to that side of the table.

Lisa didn't seem worried. "Call him."

Cisco pulled out his phone, shooting glances at the members of Team Flash at the table. "Oh, ok, I'm calling him. Mmhmm." He stopped typing on his phone, and gave her a look. "You really want me to call the Flash?"

"I need his help, too." Lisa admitted. "My brother's been kidnapped."

 **Flash!**

After much to many terrible disguised looks in Barry's direction, Cisco managed to get Lisa into his car to drive her to STAR Labs. Barry flashed back by himself, and Caitlin and Iris followed in Iris' car, Caitlin having her's still at home.

When they arrived, Cisco, Lisa and Barry were all in the Cortex. "Alright, so you just want us to believe that Captain Cold was kidnapped."

"I saw it happen." Lisa protested, moving foreword a few paces. "Last night, Lenny, me and Mick were knocking over the cashiers cage to Central City race track."

Caitlin rolled her eyes. "Does it physically pain your family not to rob people?"

"Does it physically pain you to wear clothes that are actually attractive?" Lisa shot back. Caitlin flushed and glanced down at her shoes. She felt Barry's hand brush her back, letting her know she wasn't alone. "Anyway, we never finished the job. After Mick torched the side entrance, I looked back and saw Lenny getting thrown into the back of a van."

"And why didn't you can Mick follow?" Barry asked, obviously not read to believe her story. 

Lisa looked upset- more upset then Caitlin had ever seen her. "I would have. Someone hit me from behind and knocked me out. When I came to, Lenny was gone and Mick had already made off with the cash."

Caitlin pursed her lips, trying not to roll her eyes. "How do we know this isn't some kind of a trap?"

"If he wanted the Flash dead, he would have let Mardin, Simmons and Bivelo take that honor." Lisa returned icily. "Remember?"

"Yeah, I remember." Caitlin knew that the problem was that Barry couldn't _forget_.

"Good!" Lisa gave them both a fake smile. "Then you'll also remember that you owe Lenny a favor for saving your life. Time to get on that debt, Flash."

Turning to Barry with a sour face, Caitlin muttered, "I do _not_ like her."

"No, but, she makes a point." Of course Cisco would stand up for her. She bugged her eyes out at him. "What? We should at least hear her out... right?"

"Even if I wanted to help," Barry cut in, saving Cisco from getting his head bitten off by his best friend. "How are we supposed to find him."

That got Cisco moving. "Not a problem. See, when I rebuilt the cold gun, I didn't have time to place a tracker on it. But! I devised a way of locating it by borrowing some military technology." He pressed a button on his computer, and Barry and Caitlin moved over to look over his shoulder. "See, the gun works the same as thermal imaging, instead of infrared heat signatures, it's looking for ultraviolet cold signatures."

His screen beeped at him, and Cisco leaned foreword excitedly. "Whoa, look at that. The gun's UV Thermal readings was last picked up at 5th and Hoyt, 8 minutes ago."

Barry gave Lisa a long look. "Let's see if you're a liar."

 **Flash!**

She hated Lisa Snart. Like, _really_ hated her.

When Barry had arrived at Snart's last-seen-location (or LSL, as Cisco abbreviated it), he was there. She was surprised, and Lisa sent her a haughty look, obviously pleased to be proved right.

But then Snart froze Barry. Actually froze him, from toes to chest. "Talk to me." Cisco said into the com, unusually calm. "What's going on?"

"Cisco!" Barry cried back. "Snart hit me with his cold gun."

Caitlin, for one, was very _not_ calm. "His vitals are bottoming out!"

"I'm bringing the heat right now." Cisco began to type at his suit controls, which seemed to be able to do everything from defibrillate someone to make an emergency lunch-on-the-go (or LOTG. Cisco had gone on a "abbreviation faze" last week).

"The suit-" Barry croaked, and Caitlin sat back as his vitals leveled. "What's happening?"

"Thermo-threading, baby, just something I added for situations exactly like this one." Cisco told him triumphantly. A pause, then, "Please, _please_ tell me it's working."

"Yeah, it works." Barry said, breathing heavily. "But Snart's gone. And Lisa has a lot of explaining to do."

While they waited for him to return (he needed to get feeling back into his feet before running: Doctor's orders), Caitlin grabbed a few blankets and made a cup of coffee, both of which she shoved at Barry when he flashed through the door. "Drink the coffee, and go lay down and recover."

"Cait, I'm fine." Barry complained.

She glared at him, and he groaned theatrically, before doing as she said. Caitlin sat down on the mattress next to him. "I _hate_ Lisa Snart."

"I know." Barry smiled. "You've made that very clear."

She hit him on the backside of the head, and he winced. "Ow..."

"Serves you right. I _knew_ we shouldn't have listened to her!" Caitlin leaned her head into his shoulder.

He smiled and kissed her hair. "We'll talk to Lisa-" She groaned, but he ignored the protest. "We'll talk to Lisa, and find out the real story. _Then_ , if she was lying, you have my permission to punch her. Though," He fingered one of her small hands. "I'll warn you- It hurts."

She giggled, and took a sip of Barry's offered coffee. "Cisco might not like that."

"Yeah, what's the deal with that?" Barry asked. "Are they like..."

Caitlin made a face, disgusted. "Ugh. I hope not."

Cisco tromped into the room, looking crushed. "You know, I really thought that she was telling the truth for a little bit, there." He pushed them over and sat on the bed, too, obviously heedless of their 'Couple Time'. "I mean, she just looked like she was telling the truth. Eyes don't lie."

"Snart eyes do." Caitlin muttered, but she patted Cisco's hand sympathetically. "I'm sure everything will be figured out when we talk to Lisa."

 **Flash!**

"So, your brother was not kidnapped, he was pulling a job." Back in Flash garb, Barry was not sounding very happy, or understanding. "With your father."

When Lisa heard that, her gaze shot up. Caitlin suddenly understood what Cisco mean by _eyes don't lie_. "What? No, Lenny would _never_ do that."

"Just like he would _never_ try and kill the Flash with his cold gun." Caitlin reminded her.

"Are you sure it was my dad?" Lisa asked.

Lewis Snart's picture flashed unto the big screen. "That's him." Barry confirmed, mouth in a tight line.

"Lewis Snart." Caitlin scanned the caption underneath the picture, and then turned back to Lisa. "You entire family are criminals. Why should we trust anything you say?"

Lisa stared at her, eyes hard for a moment. Her gaze slipped to Cisco, then to the floor as she moved her hair and pulled down her shirt. There was a ragged scar on her shoulder, starting at her collarbone, and going down another few inches. "I didn't get this from being a criminal. I got it being a daughter."

Caitlin's heart dropped as understanding hit her like a rock. Lisa gave her a look, waiting for her to judge. When she said nothing, the brunette turned and walked hurriedly out of the room.

Barry moved to follow her, but Cisco held up his hand. "Let me go. I got it."

Caitlin sat down, hard, in a chair, and gnawed on her lower lip. Barry rubbed his forehead. "I didn't think- Snart never told me-"

"And I've been so _awful_ to her, when really, it was just what she grew up with!" Caitlin finished, tears prickling at the back of her eyelids. "I'm such a terrible person."

"Hey, no your not." Barry's face came into view as he knelt beside her and tilted her chin to face him. "You didn't know. And the fact that you feels so bad about it just makes you amazing."

She nodded, and sniffled. He gave her a playful smile. "Also, I forgot to tell you." Barry leaned in closer and whispered. "I think that your clothes are beautiful. And you are even more so."

"Thanks." She whispered, and he kissed her, before standing up. "I'm going to see if Cisco's made any progress with Lisa. Then I'm going to talk to Snart."

 **Flash!**

Come to find out, Snart wasn't working for his father willingly. No, he wouldn't even be _looking_ at his father if his sister, a certain, now terrified Lisa Snart, didn't have a bomb planted inside her.

After a bit of a debate with Caitlin, Barry now held a magnet to Lisa's neck. "The microbomb's casing must be made of some sort of pharomatic material."

"Once you hold it steady with the magnet, I can surgically incise it." Despite herself, Caitlin was getting excited. She hadn't done surgery since... she couldn't even remember.

"Put the magnet down!" Cisco yelled as he came into the room. Barry put of his hands quickly, removing the magnet from Lisa's neck as Cisco ran foreword. "It's a _really_ concentrated bomb. It's going to combust if it's exposed to magnetic friction and an oxidant."

Caitlin and Barry both stepped hurriedly backwards. Lisa looked even more terrified, and now more then a little confused. "What's he talking about?"

"Uh- uh the bomb will explode if it comes in contact with air." Barry explained nervously.

"Lisa." Cisco soothed her. "We're gonna find another way to get it out." He moved his gaze to his two friends. "Scientific minds? Can we... confer?"

As they walked into Caitlin lab, she started brainstorming. "What if the Flash's speed extracts it?"

"No." Cisco shot her down. "It's too risky." He fiddled his fingers together as he thought. "I'm going to figure it out- I just need a little time."

Barry frowned. "Well, we need to keep track of Lewis until you figure out how to disarm the bomb."

"I wish we knew what he was going to steal next." Caitlin sighed, biting her lower lip thoughtfully. "And when."

Barry turned slowly to look at her. "Maybe I can get them to tell me. Their tech guy is dead, and I'm betting they're going to need a new one." Suddenly, Caitlin figured out where he was going with this. She turned to him, mouth open to protest, but he cut her off. "I'm saying I'm going to infiltrate Lewis' crew."

He was way too excited for this. "You're going to pretend to be a criminal?"

Barry shrugged. "How hard could it be?"

 **Flash!**

"Wow!" Cisco shrugged off his coat as he walked into the bunker. "Dudes! Look at that! We actually built the thing!" In front of his was a swirling vortex, the newly reopened breach to Earth 2.

"Mr. Garrick, I'm quite impressed of what you've accomplished during my recent wellness hiatus." Stein stood a little ways away, staring in awe at the breach.

Cisco finally tore his eyes away from the portal, and turned to look excitedly at Jay. "Have you tested it out yet?"

"Not yet." Jay said. "Want to do the honors?"

Barry and Caitlin exchanged smiles. Jay could actually be pretty sweet at times, and humoring Cisco was one of his best traits.

The tech wiz ran to the staircase that was located behind them, and grabbed his coke. Before he could do anything, however, Stein spoke up again. "No! No, no, I, uh, now that I am back to optimal health, please," He picked up his heart monitor and Caitlin tried to protest. He completely ignored her "Let me do the honors."

Without waiting for anyones response, Stein tossed the machinery into the vortex. It went through without a hitch, and everyone looked at it in excitement. "Amazing!" The professor marveled.

"How did you stabilize it?" Barry asked Jay.

"CFL Quark Matter." Jay explained, crossing his arms as he looked into the swirling blue.

"Ah!" Cisco nodded. "Negative energy density with positive surface pressure." He smacked his forehead, and Caitlin shook her head. " _Genius_!"

"Wait, you _created_ CFL Quark Matter?" Barry asked incredulously.

Jay nodded. "It's something we perfected on my Earth. I'll show you sometimes."

Both the boys grinned, but Stein gave Jay a look. "You mean.. in the next few minutes?"

Everyone fell silent at that. "Oh." Jay murmured. "Yeah, I guess this is it, huh? Time for me to... go back home."

To Caitlin's surprise, he didn't seem that excited about it, especially considering his drive to finish the project. "Right now?" She asked, trying to ease the stress of leaving so soon off of his shoulders. "I mean, we could still use your help with the breachers..."

"My first priority is Zoom." Jay said, staring intently into her eyes. It made her feel slightly uncomfortable, but she worked to keep his gaze. "I need to find out what he's up to; how he stole my speed."

"Dude, you could do that here." Cisco suggested. He seemed to like having someone at STAR Labs who wasn't in a relationship with the other person. "And, you know, how're we gonna get in touch with you, if we ever need your help here- no offense, Barry- with Zoom and stuff?"

Barry grinned at the both of them. "It would be nice to be able to pick your brain every once and awhile, get some more speedster tips." Caitlin smiled up at him. He and Jay had gotten off to a rough start, but having another practiced speedster at the Labs seemed good for Barry, especially now with Dr. Wells gone.

There was a long silence in the Bunker as Jay looked at each of them, and then at the breach. "Ok." He said finally. "I'll stay until we deal with Zoom. Then I'm going home."

"Sweet!" Cisco said, grinning.

"Good." Jay agreed. "Because I could use a shower, a shave and some sunlight." The rest of the group smiled and he nodded at them. "I'll see you later."

Once he had gotten up the steps, Caitlin turned to her patient. "So, Professor Stein, how are you feeling?"

He turned around from his target of the stairs. "Oh, well, it appears that rest heals all maladies. I couldn't feel-" He choked off the end of his sentence, his eyes going shock white.

"Professor?!" Caitlin ran foreword a step, but Barry grabbed her arm, pulling her into his chest and then behind him.

"No, get back, come here!" Barry pulled Cisco back, too, a second before Dr. Stein's head and hands exploded into flame.

He shook for a moment, gasping, and then his flames turned a abnormal blue color. His eyes sockets were black, hollow, and for a few terrifying moments nothing happened.

Then the flames disappeared and he collapsed in a heap on the ground. Now Barry let Caitlin go. She ran foreword, followed by her friends. "Professor Stein, Professor Stein, can you hear me? Professor Stein!"

"He lit up like Firestorm, but the flames, why were they were blue?" Barry's eyes were huge as he looked at Caitlin for answers she didn't have.

"I don't know- this isn't good. We need to stabilize him." Caitlin said, pressing her hands on Stein's shoulders in a desperate attempt to wake him up. It didn't work.

And if this was something connected to Firestorm... what could they really do?

 **Author's Note: It's kinda annoying, because I feel like every episode lately has ended with Stein collapsing! Ok, fine, two have. Still! I enjoy my Snowbarry endings!**


	4. 2x04

**Author's Note: Here we go again! Thank you guys for all the amazing support you always give me. You truly are the best :)**

Once they had finally gotten Stein out of the Bunker and to Cortex, Caitlin ran about 12 tests on him, hooked him up to vitals, blood, oxygen, everything that she could think of that worked to stabilize normal patients.

Stein wasn't a normal patient.

"He's getting worse." Barry breathed, staring at the vitals, and then at Caitlin. She nodded.

"Look." Cisco spoke up. He had worked some extra tech mumbo jumbo on Stein, something with the quantum splicer, and energy, and Firestorm... "I did what I could to reengineer Dr. Wells' original stabilizer, to quo the reaction, but I don't know what he used as a power source. What I've got him on is already running out of power."

"How long do we have?" Caitlin asked quietly. "Until it runs out?"

"I think we've got a few days, tops." Cisco said in reply, standing up to run his fingers through his hair.

"And he's stuck in bed?" Barry confirmed.

"Yeah." Cisco agreed. "Then I'm going to transfer the stabilizer to this. Power cane. Get him moving."

"We gotta figure out a way to save him." Barry stated firmly.

Caitlin nodded, face drawn. "I think I might know how to do that." She led them back over to Stein's bed, explaining on the way. "When the Particle Accelerator exploded, the Dark Matter that collided with Professor Stein fused with the Firestorm Matrix and altered the normal molecular process that occurs within his body."

Barry and Cisco both hovered over her shoulder, staring at one of the many screens hanging in the Cortex. "Those highly reactive molecules needed something to bond with in order to stabilize."

"And that's where Ronnie came in." Cisco finished.

"Yes." Caitlin nodded. "And now that Ronnie is no longer... apart of Professor Stein..."

"Those molecules don't have anything to bond to." Barry sighed heavily.

"The longer he goes without merging, the more unstable he becomes." Caitlin finished up.

"Hm." Cisco turned back to the desk, and Barry and Caitlin followed his surprisingly un-panicked movements with their eyes. "Alright, so. What do we do?"

Caitlin shrugged. Their was really only one solution, in her eyes. "Find another 'participant'."

"Oh." Cisco nodded. "Cool. So... how do we do that? Are we going to make a tinder app for potential meta humans? Because I'm sure merging with Stein and bursting into flames is the biggest white left of all time."

"Even if we could find someone willing," Barry added on. "Stein can't merge with whoever he wants."

Caitlin pinched her lips. Boys were so _difficult_ sometimes. "No, he can't but I've done some research, and I've picked out two potential candidates that might be compatible with him. They both were affected by the Dark Matter, and they both were admitted to the hospital showing signs of gene rearrangement mutation. And they both share the same blood type as Professor Stein and Ronnie."

Barry and Cisco walked around the desk, following her to the computer display as she pulled up the two young men's profiles. "Alright." Barry said. "I mean, this is more then an organ donation, we'll need more then tissue typing to see if their bodies are compatible."

She had an answer for that, too. "If I can isolate the genetic locus of the two candidates, and cross reference it with the mutation in Professor Stein's I _might_ be able to find a match and... save his life."

Barry shook his head in awe, once again being reminded of how amazingly brilliant his girlfriend was. "What do you need to do that?" He asked.

Caitlin bit her lip. "Um... I'm kind of going to need you to take some blood-"

He was out the door before she could finish her sentence, and then back with two vials of dark red blood. He handed one to each of his friends. "Alright. Blood samples from each of the candidates."

"Man." Cisco blinked. "That was fast- even for you."

"... I _may_ have skipped the asking for permission part..." Barry muttered.

Caitlin tried to hold it in, but a small giggle escaped her. Barry grinned. She took the blood from Cisco, and inspected the to glass containers. "Let's see if we can't get a match."

 **Flash!**

For once, luck was with them. Both of the candidates that Caitlin had found were compatible, as she explained eagerly to a now-awake Martin Stein.

"So who do we go with?" Barry asked.

She had an answer to that, too. "Well, my first choice is Henry Huet. He graduated from Hudson University, with a double major in applied physics and bioengineering."

Stein looked interested. "A Hudson boy; I like him already." She beamed.

Barry stepped closer to the screen. "So, what about this other guy, Jefferson Jackson? High school quarterback, 4.0 student... he's got the physical attributes." Barry scanned the rest. "And it looks like he's more of a match then Huet- doesn't that mean that he's more compatible?"

Caitlin bit her lip. She had been kind of hoping Barry wouldn't notice that bit. "On paper, perhaps. But Huet is a _scientist_. Clearly he's trying to make something of his life. I think he'd be open to something like this."

"I think we should meet with both of them before we make a decision." Barry said.

"That is an excellent idea." Martin agreed.

"Whew." Cisco whispered. "Couple fight averted skillfully. Nice job, professor."

"I'll see if I can get Huet here!" Caitlin smiled.

"And in the meantime, we'll go meet with Jefferson Jackson." Barry gestured to Stein to follow him out the door.

Cisco set off in his own direction. "And I will find something else to help you keep stabile."

 **Flash!**

The meeting with Henry had gone extremely well. He was even more eager then Caitlin had expected, and came immediately back with her to STAR Labs. He was looking around at all of the equipment, a delighting look of awe on his face, when Barry and Stein walked in. "Caitlin?" Barry asked, glanced at Huet. "What's going on...?"

She grinned in pleasure. "Hi! I'm glad your back. This is Dr. Henry Huet." She turned to the young man. "This is Barry Allen and Dr. Martin Stein."

The two met fell into conversation immediately, and Barry walked over to where Caitlin and Cisco were standing. "Isn't he great?" Caitlin chirped. Barry sent a jealous glare over his shoulder.

Cisco made a face. "He's got an ego the size of Texas, but, yeah, he's alright."

"So..." Caitlin searched Barry's face. "Where's Jefferson Jackson?"

"We just need more time-"

"We don't _have_ more time." Cisco cut him off. "I couldn't find another power source for the cane. That thing's running out."

Caitlin nodded. "Then lets to the merge. Huet's in."

Barry's eyes shot back to hers. "Wait, you told him the details of the Firestorm Matrix?"

"Absolutely." Caitlin said, offended that he would even _think_ she wouldn't say something. "Becoming Firestorm is a _huge_ life decision- he needs to know what he's getting himself into."

Over by the other desk, Stein and Huet were both geeking out about something with protons and neutrons. Cisco grinned. "Oh, look at that, that's so cute: We'll have two Professor Steins if this works!"

"It's going to work." Caitlin insisted.

Cisco's smile was now more of a pained grimace. "Yep."

"Ok." Barry nodded. Caitlin bounced on her toes in excitement, and he gave her one of those soft, adoring looks that he did when she was being cute.

A few minutes later, Cisco arrived with the splicer, and stood in front of Henry, who was towering above him. "When I put this splicer on your chest, you're going to feel a rush. That's a molecular primer being released into your body. You can make physical contact with Professor Stein and.. we'll see if the bond works."

Cisco stepped back to his friends, Caitlin, grinning, Barry with a frown on his face. The two scientists raised their open palms, facing each other, and slowly brought them together. Caitlin grabbed Barry's hand and squeezed it.

When their hands met, there was a flash of swirling golden light. Then it faded. Caitlin's face fell. "Try again." Stein instructed.

Once more, they pressed their hands together. Still nothing. "Why isn't it working?" Huet exclaimed angrily.

"I don't know." Caitlin bit her lip.

Henry glared at her. "You were the one that brought me in here. You should have known it wouldn't work!" He stalked foreword, and Cisco straightened up.

Barry got there first, though, putting himself between the two of them. "Hey, watch it. It's not her fault that you two aren't compatible." He sent a rivaling glare back at the other man. "Just, chill, ok?"

Huet turned and stomped out of the room with a huff. Cisco rolled his eyes, then placed a hand on Caitlin's shoulder. "You ok?"

"Yeah, fine, thanks." Caitlin murmured. "I shouldn't have thought that he was- never mind."

Barry rubbed her arm, and turned to Stein. "We've got to keep trying to convince Jax to merge with you."

"Agreed, Mr. Allen." Stein nodded. "Shall I join you in going to talk to our young mechanic again?"

Barry nodded, leading the older man out of the room after quickly kissing Caitlin's cheek. She sighed, and leaned against the desk. "I was so sure that Huet would be our next Firestorm partner."

"To tell you the truth, I'm glad he's not." Cisco said. "That guy was _annoying_."

 **Flash!**

When Jax got to STAR Labs, he spent a much shorter time the Huet looking around, mostly exclaiming over the treadmill and the fact that he thought the labs had closed down. Caitlin observed him from the corner, anxious to get to the part where they tested his merging with Professor Stein.

"So." Jax clapped his hands together. "You guys got some crazy futuristic tech that can fix my knee?"

Barry sent Caitlin a guilty look as her eyebrows shot up. "Actually... Jax... this isn't about fixing your knee."

Jax looked at them all warily, and Caitlin could see his eyes darting around, looking for exits. "What're you talking about?"

"When the particle accelerator exploded, the energy wave that collided with you is know as 'dark matter'." Stein explained from his wheelchair.

"And... it's didn't just hurt your knee." Caitlin added.

"It- it _changed_ the molecular structure of your body-"

"Whoa whoa whoa whoa." Jax interrupted. His entire body was rigid, tense with pressure and suspicion. "Hold on, Grey. So you're saying that I'm like one of those metahumans I keep hearing about on the news?"

There was a short silence. "Yes." Stein murmured. "And, please, call me Professor."

Jax crossed his arms, and turned toward Barry as he started talking. "We think that you have potential capabilities."

"What kind of capabilities?"

Caitlin bit her lip. "The same as Professor Stein. The ability for your body to process fission and fusion."

"And you can harness excess energy and turn it into these _massive_ nuclear blasts." Cisco grinned, obviously wishing that _he_ was the one who was compatible with Stein. Jax raised an eyebrow. "And you can fly." Cisco added offhandedly. "There's also that."

"So you're saying you can do all this?" Jax asked Stein disbelievingly.

"During times of convergence with a willing partner." Stein confirmed.

"Convergence?" Jax said, eyebrow raised higher. "You and me?"

Everyone in the room nodded. Jax started to laugh. "Uh, no, this is crazy." He said, raising his hands and walking quickly toward the door.

"Jax!" Barry called after him. "This is your chance to right the wrong that was done to you."

"Yeah." Jax said, still looking at them like they were all psychos. "Sorry, you got the wrong guy. I don't want nothing to do with this."

"Wait a second!" Caitlin called desperately. If Jax left... he could be their last hope of saving the professor. "We're giving you the chance to be a _superhero_. And you're going to say no that quickly?"

"Yeah." Jax repeated. "Not my kind of thing."

Stein stood shakily, leaning on his cane. "If the man isn't willing to participate-"

Caitlin interrupted, now upset. "Well, I saw your test scores, Jax. Your grades were good enough to get into collage but _you didn't go_. Why?" Barry held out his hands placatingly, but she ignored him. "Is that the type of guy you are? One setback and you fold? Well maybe you're not the guy for us, anyway."

"Maybe I'm not." Jax snapped, before turning and storming out of the labs.

Barry looked at her, a frown etched on his face, and Caitlin glared right back. Stein interrupted before anyone could say anything. "Maybe... this just wasn't meant to be." He moved away down the corridor, slowly using his cane to help him.

Caitlin turned back around, facing Barry's disappointed look. "Caitlin- come on- Jax could be our last chance at saving Stein."

"He said no to being a superhero!" Caitlin cried. "Who _does_ that? I mean, you didn't say no when you had the chance; Cisco, would you?"

Cisco looked strangely nervous. "Chance to have superpowers? Sign me up."

Barry tilted her shoulder's back to face him. "Look, we're asking Jax to change his entire life- to sacrifice what he _does_ have. I mean, that's not a decision that can be made lightly. It took me a long time to figure out this whole hero thing."

"Exactly." Caitlin insisted. "Which is why we need someone who _wants_ to do this."

She began to walk towards the door, but Barry called after her. "Where're you going?"

"To get Huet back. We _have_ to try again."

 **Flash!**

"I couldn't find Huet." Was the first thing that Caitlin said when she came back into the Cortex.

"Yeah, I've got a little something that might help explain that." Cisco said gravely. "Huet's going to pop his top. And he's got a long history of violence according to his police record."

"Police record?" Caitlin frowned and she walked around the desk. "I didn't find one."

"Yeah." Cisco twisted back to his computer. "Of course not, it was sealed. But guess what? Your boy hacked in, and, hold on, wait for it... 1 count battery, 2 counts aggravated assault, anger management therapy?"

"He seemed like such a nice guy." Caitlin sighed. Barry rolled his eyes. "He knew your Hudson nerd song."

Stein took a gasping breath and lurched towards the desk. Cisco ran around to grab his arm. "Whoa, you ok?"

"It seems that Mr. Huet's stability isn't the only one in question." Stein joked, obviously trying to make light of the situation. "I think I need to lie down."

Cisco nodded, face drawn. "Yeah, I'll come with you."

"Thank you." Stein slung his arm around Cisco's shoulders, and allowed the younger man to help him out of the room.

Caitlin let her shoulder's drop, and she met Barry's anxious gaze with one of her own. "Professor Stein is getting worse, and Huet's like this because of me. And now, Jefferson Jackson will never come back because of what I said. I-" Caitlin felt tears burning in her eyes. "I just didn't think he has what it takes."

Barry gave her a small smile, sitting down beside her and wiping his thumb against her cheekbone. "This isn't because you didn't believe in him. Sometimes, great possibilities are right in front of us, and we don't see them, because we choose not to." Barry reached out and grasped her hand lightly. "I think that we need to be open to exploring something new."

Caitlin nodded, and, without warning, started to cry. Barry startled upward and pulled her into a hug. "Hey..." He whispered. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"What if- what if we _can't_ find someone to take Ronnie's place?" Caitlin sniffled. "What if Professor Stein- I can't lose someone else, Barry."

Barry guided her head to his shoulder with his hand, and her eyes slid shut as he ran his fingers soothingly through her hair. "What's this really about, Cait? What's going on?"

She took a deep, shaky breath, trying to control her voice. "This never would have happened if Ronnie hadn't died, Barry." More tears flooded to her eyes, and Barry sat down, pulling her into his lap.

"Take a deep breath." He instructed gently. "Look at me, Caitlin."

She moved her wet face away from his shirt, and stared at him. He reached out a thumb to wipe her cheeks. "You have to believe me when I say that this isn't your fault. In fact, it's thanks to you and Cisco that Stein has stayed alive as long as he has. You need to stop blaming yourself, and, instead, use your energy to make the situation better."

She took another shaky breath, and he leaned down and kissed her forehead. "It's ok, Cait. We're going to figure this out."

Caitlin curled back into his lap and pressed her face into his chest, letting his warmth seep into her and calm her down. "You ok now?" Barry whispered in her ear.

She nodded, closing her eyes, suddenly feeling exhausted. After a little bit, though, she pushed herself back. "I'll see you later ok? I- I've got to go do something."

"Ok." Barry pressed his lips to hers. "Good luck."

 _I'll need it_. Caitlin thought. But she just thanked him and left the room.

 **Flash!**

When Caitlin got back to STAR Labs, she was in considerably better spirits, and had none other then Jefferson Jackson tagging along at her heels.

Barry met her as she got halfway into the Cortex, and even before he said her name, she knew something had happened. "What's wrong?"

"Good, you're here." Cisco breathed out a sigh of relief, and tapped his machine. "This thing, it ran out, like, thirty minutes ago."

Caitlin turned back to Barry, horror etched on her features. Barry nodded. "His temperature is 142 degrees, and rising fast."

"He's going into rapid oxidation. We need to find a coolant." Caitlin instructed, keeping the panic out of her voice and posture for as long as she could.

Cisco shook his head. "I think it's too late for that."

"I'll do it." Everyone turned their gazes away from Stein to stare at Jax. "I'll merge with him."

The situation was too life-or-death for anyone to question wether Jax was ready or not. Caitlin leaned over the man on the bed. "Professor Stein?"

"Clarissa..." He muttered deliriously. "Just 5 more minutes."

Barry came over and rubbed his shoulder. "No, Professor. You have to get up. Jax is here."

Stein blinked a few times, and Barry gently placed his glasses on his face, before the two of them helped him sit up. The old man leaned on the heavily as they walked into the main room of the Cortex. "You came back, Jefferson." Stein murmured, blearily looking at him. "Thank you."

Jax smiled. "Well, as my coach always said, Our of yourself, and into the team." He turned to Cisco. "So, how does this work."

"Ok." Cisco nodded a couple of times, clearing his head. "All you've gotta do is touch him."

"Then what happens?" Jax asked.

"You become Firestorm." Caitlin said.

Jax nodded. "Ok." Caitlin left Stein to stand on his own., and Barry pulled her father away, and then into his arms.

The two men clapped hands. There was a blinding explosion of light, and everyone not taking part in the merge shielded their eyes and looked away. When it became dimmer, there was only one man, haloed in fire. "Jax?" Caitlin breathed. He turned around. "Is Professor Stein..."

"How will I know?" The Jax-Firestorm asked. He blinked, and then looked at the ceiling. "Great. So I've got Grey as my co-pilot." Another pause, like he was listening. "So when do we get to take this for a test spin?"

As if in response, one if Cisco's many alarms began to beep. He ran over to his desk. "Uh, how about now? It looks like Huet's recharging at Central City high school football stadium."

Barry flashed off immediately, and it didn't take long for Firestorm to follow. Caitlin seated herself beside her friend as watched as he quickly pulled up the traffic cameras surrounding the stadium.

Huet was standing in the center of the green, arms outstretched as he soaked up the energy from the giant lights. "Cisco?" Barry spoke through the com. "Cut the power to the field so Huet can't draw any more energy."

"I'm not it." Cisco reported, typing furiously at his computer. "Stand by." He clicked hard on his mouse. "Boo-yika!"

"Huet!" Barry yelled, making the malefactor turn. "You need to stop. This is not who you are." Caitlin smiled softly. Her Barry. Always trying to reason with the crazies before he kicked their butts.

Firestorm arrived at the scene, and it made Huet look up, betrayal on his face. "Stein? You chose him over me?" His face grew dark. " _That's who I'm supposed to be! I_ deserve the Firestorm Matrix." He sent a blast at Firestorm, and sent the combined men tumbling backwards.

Barry watched their progress, and as soon as they landed, he flashed over. "Hey, you ok?"

"I was a quarterback." Jax responded. "I know how to take a hit."

"Hey guys." Barry said to the people in the Cortex. "Cutting the power didn't work. It's like the more we anger him the stronger he gets."

Suddenly struck with an idea, Caitlin pointed at Cisco. "That's it! It's like one of those, uh, control... control fusion devices." She said, gesticulating as she tried to pull up the right phrase.

"Togamat?" Cisco asked, nose wrinkled as he tried to figure out how this was relevant.

"Yes, exactly, and the more powerful they become, the more unstable they become." She lurched toward the com on the desk. "Barry- make him angry and he'll blow his fuse."

"You're cute when you're being brilliant." Barry responded, and Caitlin could hear the grin in his voice. She turned red.

Barry turned to Jax. "Up for a little game of 'Catch Me If You Can'?"

"Let's go for it." Jax agree instantly. He blasted into the air, waiting for the right moment as Barry flashed around Huet, taunting him relentlessly.

"Come on, Huet!" Jax called finally. "Give me your best shot!" He sent a blast at the insane man on the field, and Huet shot one right back. They met in the center, swirling and combining into each other.

Barry came to a stop. "That all you got, Huet?"

"Man, no wonder you didn't make the cut if _that's_ how you fight." Jax said.

Caitlin heard Barry laugh, and then Huet yelled in rage, blasting out of both sides. It didn't work, however, and Jax punched him in the face, sending him tumbling to the ground, flames extinguished.

"Welcome aboard, Firestorm." Barry told Jax, clapping him on his shoulder. "Welcome aboard."

 **Flash!**

They had all gone to see Professor Stein and Jax off. After a few last hugs and farewells, Stein turned to his new partner. "Now I believe it is time to take this show on the road- or to the sky, if I am to be literal."

"Ha!" Joe laughed, the only one who actually found it funny.

Cisco, Barry and Caitlin all backed up a few steps as Stein and Jax stood facing each other. Jax placed the splicer on his chest, and Stein nodded. "Are you ready, Jefferson?"

They merged seamlessly, not even having to touch to complete the transfusion. Jax lit up, and blasted into the sky.

Caitlin raised her hand and waved gently at the steadily vanishing dot of bright in the sky. Barry smiled at her. "Alright."

"See you later." She smiled.

He leaned foreword and kissed her gently on the lips. "Yup."

Cisco groaned. "You guys really find the need to do that when I'm around?"

"Yes." Caitlin smiled, patting his shoulder. "Lets go."

Barry watched her go with a faraway look on his face, and Joe clapped him on the shoulder, leading him down the path. "That was one crazy leap of faith that kid took, merging with Stein like that. Maybe you can learn a little something from him." He nodded his chin behind him, at Caitlin's back. "You can see in her eyes she still loves you, but I don't know if she knows that you love her."

"Maybe you're right." Barry nodded, looking back, too, just in time to see Caitlin long hair disappear around the corner. "Maybe I should take a leap."

 **Author's Note: Getting close to the "I love you"s again... very exciting! It's kind of nice- I get to do their "firsts" twice, because of the slight mishap in between Season 1 and 2, but, also, I don't have to deal with the angst of them breaking up. The show did it all for me.**


	5. 2x05

**Author's Note: Hey guys! Sorry this took so long.**

 **You know, I've been thinking long and hard about season 3 (not that we're anywhere** ** _close_** **to that), and I'm honestly coming to the conclusion that it is going to be** ** _really_** **hard to write. Not only does WestAllen dominate the whole thing (so I would have to replace Caitlin in all of those scenarios, unless Iris ends up dying, and if I don't it would kind of be a mess), but I actually ship Snowbert... so I may end up just doing a few episodes, like 3x07, and stuff like that. Just my two cents.**

This was the strangest moment of Caitlin's entire life. No exaggeration included.

Barry had come back to STAR Labs with a sore neck and someone who looked _exactly_ like Dr. Wells in tow. Caitlin had screamed when she saw him, scrambling backward until she hit the desk. Barry had reached over and grabbed her arm, assuring her it was ok, that it wasn't the _real_ Dr. Wells. Like she knew what that meant.

And now this "not real" Dr. Wells was reading the "real" (though actually fake) Dr. Wells' biography. As she said. Strangest moment of her life.

"Very strange to be holding your autobiography." Wells said, putting down the book. He was apparently feeling the weird, too. "Especially when you didn't write it." He snapped the cover shut, placing it with a loud thump on the table. "And it's not about you."

"Dr. Caitlin Snow, Cisco Ramon, meet Harrison Wells." Barry introduced them, giving Caitlin a shrug as she crossed her arms suspiciously. "From Earth 2."

"Hi." Cisco greeted, arms also crossed over his chest as he narrowed his eyes at the newcomer.

"Hi." Wells said, not even trying to look friendly.

"So." Cisco waving his finger around vaguely. "Let me get this straight. You're the doppleganger of the man who murdered his mom-" The finger went to Barry. "And is responsible for both Ronnie and Eddie's deaths."

"Yeah, but he's not even the doppleganger of the Dr. Wells that we knew," Caitlin added. "Because that Dr. Wells body had been taken over by the Reverse Flash, who was really Eobard Thawn and Eddie's... distant relative from the future."

Wells was silent for a second. "Yeah, I didn't follow any of that. I'm my own man. And had nothing to do with the murder of your mom or your friend Ricky."

"His name was Ronnie." Caitlin protested angrily.

"Him either." Wells shot back.

Barry's face remained stoic, and even Caitlin couldn't read what was going on inside of his head. "You told me you had proof? Of your identity?"

Wells strode over to his backpack, and Caitlin got a look at his gun for the first time. It was large and bulky, and unlike anything she had ever seen before. "This almost hit me when I went through the portal." Wells told them, pulling out the heart monitor (or what looked like the heart monitor) that Stein had tossed through the portal when they were checking if it worked. "Your stabilized breach connect directly to the STAR Labs on my Earth."

"Technically this could be mine, but I'd still like to run some tests on you." Caitlin insisted, taking the bag warily.

"I'll be genetically indistinguishable from my Earth 1 counterpart." Wells told her. "So your tests will reveal nothing."

"Ok." Caitlin said. "Still gonna run them."

"Be my guest."

Cisco walked up to Barry and, not so quietly, whispered. "Why are we even listening to him, I mean, how do we know he's not evil like the other guy?"

"He saved my life last night." Barry responded, and Caitlin was immediately put on alert.

"What do you mean? What happened?" She scanned him from head to toe. "Are you alright?"

He placed his hand on her shoulder. "It's fine, I'm fine, see? Fine. The question is why?" He turned his attention back to Wells. "I'm guessing that you didn't travel between dimensions just to meed the Flash."

Wells looked up, his eyes piercing and alert. "That's exactly what I did. I came here to help you, Barry, to stop your greatest enemy."

"He already did that." Cisco informed him, face still telling everyone who saw it that he didn't-wouldn't-couldn't trust this man.

"I'm not talking about the Reverse Flash." Wells tugged one last time on his backpack strap. "I'm talking about Zoom." Caitlin sighed, her face creasing as she thought about the well put, "Worst Enemy" that had been terrorizing them lately. Wells' gaze went to her. "I see you've already heard of him."

"Zoom has been sending metahumans from your world through the breaches to fight me." Barry said. He was surprisingly calm about all of this- not the usual, heartfelt guys Caitlin knew. She figured it was taking a lot not to hurt the man that looked so much like the one that killed his mother.

"Well," Wells didn't really seem to care. "They're the symptoms. Zoom's the plague; one that's infected my world, and now he's coming for yours."

"What do you know about Zoom?" Barry asked.

"Everything." Wells stared Barry down, eyes even more intense then before. "I created Zoom."

A silence rang out in Cortex as everyone in it absorbed that new piece of the puzzle. "I'm responsible for all of Earth 2's metahumans; a fact I've ignored for far to long, but now," He loaded his gun with a crack. "I'm doing something about it."

"Yeah, well." Cisco didn't seem convinced, but at least his arms had dropped. "We're batting a thousand against these breachers."

"You're batting a thousand, Crisco?" Wells asked. "What's your sample size? 10? Less? _Zoom_ is obsessed with speed. He will _never_ allow there to be another speedster in the multiverse and he's gonna keep sending these metas here, one after the next, all with the same goal. To kill the Flash, unless we stope him, _together_."

Caitlin felt a strange, slightly sickening feeling of dread coming up from her stomach. She took a step closer to Barry.

"Last time we listened to a guy with your face, some bad things went down." Cisco murmured.

Caitlin nodded. "We lost people we cared about." She saw Barry's eyes drop briefly away from her's, to the floor, and immediately felt terrible for bringing up what he still considered to be his fault.

Wells was silent for a moment. "Everyone loses someone they care about, Snow." He rasped. "The real test of character is what you do once they're gone."

Before any of them could respond, Joe suddenly walked into the room. When he saw Wells, he yanked out his gun and fired three quick shots. Barry shot into movement, and the next thing Caitlin knew, Barry was sliding to his knees, fist clenched, presumably around the bullets.

"Joe!" Barry yelled, turning to his surrogate father. "Put the gun down."

"How is he still alive?!" Joe shouted, running at Wells. "How are you still alive?!"

"I don't know." Wells growled. "Because you missed?"

"I'm trying to keep him from shooting you- you're not helping." Barry said angrily. He grabbed Joe's shoulder and turned him toward the door. "Let's take a walk, alright, it's all good."

As they disappeared down the corridor, Caitlin turned to Cisco, whispering. "We know someone who can verify everything this guy just said." She sighed, and looked toward the door. "I really was hoping to avoid seeking Jay out.. but I suppose that the situation calls for it."

Cisco gave her a look. "Why? You don't like Jay?"

"It's not that.." Caitlin shook her head, not entirely comfortable with the conversation. "He just... makes Barry upset. Because Jay is flirting with me." Cisco continued to look blank, so Caitlin just shook her head again and patted his shoulder. "Be careful."

 **Flash!**

After an awkward interaction with Jay, which resulted in her getting him back to STAR Labs, Caitlin was glad to return to Cisco and Barry's side. Jay was really starting to creep her out- he was staring at her, and obviously flirting with her, and she didn't want to hurt his feelings by just _ignoring_ him, but at the same time, didn't want to lead him on with reciprocation.

As soon as she saw Barry she went up and glued herself to his side. Cisco leaned over and tapped on her shoulder. "Heeeeey Caitlin. Guess what?"

"What, Cisco?" Caitlin asked, smiling at her friends obvious excitement.

"You remember Patty, right? The one who's, like, Barry's stalker?" Cisco ignored Barry's protest and continued. "She knew who I was. She's so cooooool..." He gave a dreamy sigh. "If Barry wasn't already dating you, I'd tell him to ask her out. But! Because he is, I might actually have a chance. So thanks."

"You're welcome." Caitlin said with a eye roll in Barry's direction.

"Yes, but Cisco forgot to tell you how he totally got turned down by this barista at Jitters." Barry smirked.

"Dude! You're supposed to be my wingman and _not_ tell Caitlin that.." Cisco groaned. "But yeah, she was totally like, 'No, random creepy stranger, you cannot have my number'."

Caitlin was about to respond, but Jay came striding through the door. "You are insane." He yelled. "We are not luring Zoom _anywhere_." He came to a heavy stop in front of Wells (or, Harry, as Caitlin later learned they were calling him).

"Apparently they know each other, and Jay- not a fan." Caitlin filled her friends in.

"Well, well, well." Harry placed whatever he had been holding back on Cisco's desk. "Like everyone else, I assumed Earth 2's Flash was dead. Why am I not surprised to find Jay Garrick here, still alive, and in hiding, a full universe away from Zoom?"

Jay bristled. "I'm not _in hiding_. Zoom nearly killed me, and stole my speed, before the singularity pulled me here."

"Is that right?"

"Yeah, that's right." Jay all but growled. Barry looked like he was watching a tennis match- his head swiveled back and forth between the two of them, and he kept looking like he wanted to interrupt, but couldn't find the right opening.

Harry, thankfully, let it drop. "Well, whatever the case: In your absence, Zoom has only gotten more powerful. Faster. Barry," He turned to Earth 1's Flash. "You have to defeat Zoom now, while you can."

"No." Jay turned to Barry, too. "This isn't a time to be reckless. We don't know why Zoom sent Dr. Light here. She's a thief, not a killer. Zoom can make people do things that are out of character."

"Thief or not." Harry insisted. "She'll kill you."

Finally, Barry spoke up. "Alright, look, hey. We can decide what to do with Light later. First we have to find her, ok?"

With a finality that singled the end of the discussion, Harry picked up his Big Belly Burger milkshake and took a long, loud sip. Jay glared after him.

Barry approached Cisco. "Hey, how did you know that Dr. Light was breaking into the bank?"

"I, uh, um, got an alert on my phone," Cisco pulled it out as evidence. "There's a little 'ring-a-ding', like, every time there's a robbery."

Barry gave him a confused look, but Cisco was quickly moving on. "You know what? I think I can get the STAR Labs Satellite to scan for any irregular solar radiation emissions, and we can find Dr. Light's... light."

Caitlin was a little suspicious about the abrupt change of subject, but Barry seemed to buy it, digging out his own cell phone. "Alright, I'm also going to call Joe, see if the CCPD has any leads. Why don't we keep them," He gestured to Harry and Jay. "Apart until I get back."

"I'm sure that won't be a problem." Caitlin smiled, and he leaned down to lightly kiss her lips.

"See you."

"Good luck."

 **Flash!**

Keeping the two men apart was, in fact, rather easy, considering that Harry disappeared into Cisco's lab a few minutes after Barry went out. Caitlin was left to stare idly at the screen of her tablet, comparing DNA samples and reading up on a few articles about phycology. Hey, she had time, so why not?

Barry got back in time to be sent out again by a robbery at Central City bank, which everyone figured would be Dr. Light.

"It could be a trap." Cisco precautioned, but Barry mostly ignored him, striding around the side of the desk and toward his suit.

"Barry, trust me, Dr. Light is not a killer," Jay repeated yet again to the younger speedster. "You can talk to her."

Barry nodded. "Ok." In the next second, a whirl of lighting had caused the Flash suit in the display to disappear, and Barry had vanished. Caitlin switched the screen to his vitals, leaning back in her chair to wait out what was probably going to be a fairly anti-climactic fight.

Barry followed Dr. Light through the hole in the cement wall, and leaned casually against the stack of money resting in the corner. "Looking for this?" He asked. To her credit, Dr. Light didn't look very surprised.

"I know Zoom sent you here to kill me." Barry continued. "Here's the good news: You don't have to do that."

"Not if I can get out of town with that cash." Dr. Light shot back, taking a step forward.

"And then what?" Barry asked. "Zoom's not going to like that you ditched him, right? My friends and I can help you."

She shook her head, hard, fast. "Nobody can protect me from Zoom."

Her hands lit up, not unlike Firestorms when he "flame on"ed as Cisco called it, and Barry held up his own hands placatingly. "Whoa, why don't we take it down a little bit. Have a normal conversation." He said calmly. "Alright?" Dr. Lights hands returned to normal. "Thank you."

The meta reached up and flipped open her visor, and Barry had to blink a few times to make sure his eyes were playing tricks on him. He knew her... how... how did he... "Linda? Linda Park?"

Dr. Light, or Linda, or whoever she was, looked confused, then scared. "How do you know my name?"

"I don't understand." Barry breathed.

"This was a mistake." Dr. Light gasped, and, suddenly, blinding light burst from every part of her. Barry bent over, covering his eyes, but it was too late. When he opened them again, everything was dark.

"Barry, what's happening?" Caitlin asked worriedly, hearing the gasps coming from her boyfriend.

When he spoke, he sounded scared. "I can't see. Guys, I can't see."

 **Flash!**

By the time Barry finally found his way back to STAR Labs, he was in a state of slightly more controlled panic. That quickly turned to flat out annoyance as the afternoon wore on, and Caitlin tried test after test.

Right now, she was shining a red light in his eyes. "Anything?"

"I still can't see." Barry groaned, reaching up to rub his eyes as she turned the light away. "How long is this gonna last?"

"You're suffering from solar retinopathy, meaning your retinas are _severely_ damaged. You're lucky not to be permanently blind." Caitlin told him, turning to put her tool away and to sigh at her test results.

"But, with your rapid regeneration abilities, your sight should return soon." Jay assured him. "In the meantime, we've got to find Dr. Light."

"Ok." Barry stood up, and promptly smacked into Caitlin. He patted her face, obviously aiming for her cheek. "Sorry 'bout that. I'll go."

"Barry-" Cisco called after him.

"What?" Barry asked, whipping around and slamming into the flimsy glass walls of Caitlin's lab.

"Barry!" Jay called out, grabbing his shoulders to stop him from moving any further. "Ok, ok, you can't do, uh, _anything_ , until your sight returns, come on, here's the rail, here." He placed Barry's hand on the metal strip.

Caitlin approached, desperately holding in a laugh at Barry's unfortunate situation, and the pouty look on his face. Jay and Cisco both left the room, going to figure out more about their newest meta.

Iris came walking through the door. "Hey, Barry I came as soon as I heard-" She stopped mid sentence, and stared open mouthed at Harry. "You look just like him..."

Harry let out a labored sigh. "I'm guessing my counterpart did something to offend her as well?"

"Her fiancé died because of him." Cisco informed him quietly, wincing at the whole situation, and the world at large.

"Oh." Was all Harry offered. He turned and walked into Caitlin's lab.

Caitlin put her hand comfortingly on Iris' shoulder. "Well, if you want some good news, Barry's sight should be returning soon. He won't be permanently damaged from Dr. Light's blast."

"Good." Iris breathed.

"Iris..." Barry turned blindly in the direction of her voice. "I know it's weird, seeing him-"

"Yeah, it's just a lot to process." Iris shook her head. "Wells, my mother..."

Caitlin bit her lip. "Barry told me about you mom... and, don't worry, it's because I pressed him on keeping something from me. He was going to keep it a secret." Iris gave her a small smile and tolerant shake of her head in response to her friends actions.

"How are you doing with that?" Barry asked, still trying to locate Iris' position. It didn't help that she continued to move around the room, nearly silently.

"I mean..." Iris placed her hands on her hips, and Caitlin gently moved Barry's head so he was facing her. "Now that she's gone, ok. But really." She patted his arm, and he jumped. Caitlin could contain her giggle this time. "I should be asking how you're going."

Barry rubbed his eyes, and looked around for his doctor. She tapped his shoulder, making him whip towards her. "Calm down, Barry." Caitlin smiled. "Just stop focusing on being able to see. Focus on your ears, on you sense of touch." She took his hand, and gently pulled his stumbling form over to a chair. "You sit here, ok? We'll find something to do to occupy your time."

Iris shook her head fondly at the two of them. "Good luck." She murmured.

"Hey!" Barry called out, speaking to the wall. Both girls burst into giggles. "I'm might be blind, but I'm not deaf yet!"

Caitlin snickered, patting his shoulder consolingly. "Yes, yes, we know, Barry. You just sit tight, ok?" She turned to her tablet. "I'm going to do some research on solar retinopathy, maybe see if I can find a way to heal your eyes at a more accelerated rate."

The research didn't last long, however, because Barry began to get very, very bored. He twisted back and forth in his chair. "Caitlin... isn't there _anything_ we can do to pass the time?"

Caitlin got a devilish smirk on her face, one which Barry would have _loved_ to see, had he had his sight at the moment. She placed her hands on his shoulders, and planted her body between his legs. "I can think of a few things..."

They were locked in a very nice kiss when Cisco and Jay came back into the room. Cisco yelled something unintelligible, and squeaked like a 5 year old girl. "No no no no my _eyes_! Guys, _whyyyyyyyy_..." He clapped his hands over his eyes in overdramatic-agony.

Caitlin, turning nearly purple as she blushed, pulled away from Barry and clapped a hand over her mouth. "You- you- came back sooner- uh..."

Jay had an angry look in his eyes, one that was even a little scary. Barry, still not able to see it but able to feel the tension in the room, placed his hand on Caitlin's lower back. The look intensified for just a moment, then softened into a teasing smile. "Well, while you two were... doing what you were doing, Cisco and I made-"

"Absolutely no progress." Cisco finished with a labored sigh, seemingly recovered from his mental scarring. He sighed, placing his hand heavily on Barry's shoulder. The other man jumped. "Dude." Cisco said. "You're time was spent way more enjoyably."

There was an extremely long, extremely awkward pause. Caitlin blinked at Cisco. He blinked, too, realizing how that had come out. "Agh, no! Not that I would ever- with Caitlin- guys, nooooooo... no no nononono! I just meant! With another girl!" He covered his face with his hands, embarrassed beyond belief.

Barry laughed, shaking his head in the direction of his friend. Attempting to move the subject away from kissing Caitlin (for all of their sakes), he changed the subject. "So... you didn't have any success with Dr. Light?"

Jay shook his head, remembered that Barry couldn't see, and verbalized his response. "No. We couldn't -yet- figure out how to track her. But we're going to keep trying, and hopefully your sight will return soon."

"Yeah." Barry nodded. "Ok, yeah, thanks." His blind gaze shifted to where Caitlin had been standing earlier (and where she still was, actually, standing, he just didn't know that). Caitlin tapped her finger against her thigh, eager to get back to... what they had been doing.

Jay and Cisco, for once in their life taking the cues, hurriedly excused themselves and ran for the hallway. Caitlin let out a breath. "I thought they'd leave." She muttered under her breath, making Barry laugh.

He reached out for her, and she leaned closer to his hands, allowing her to pull her mouth back to his. She kissed him harder, threading her fingers through his soft brown hair, and when she pulled back, Barry gave her a searching look. "What?"

"I can see you..." He hummed softly, brushing his thumb across her cheek. "And you are really beautiful."

"That must have been some kiss." Caitlin breathed, letting his play with the ends of her hair.

"Always is, with you." Barry smiled, and kissed her again.

They were interrupted _yet again_ , this time by one of Cisco's alarms. Thankfully, they pulled themselves apart before Cisco got into the room. "Barry!" He yelled, even through Barry was already at his shoulder. "Oh, sorry dude, didn't see you. Dr. Light's at Picture News. Go, man, go!"

By the time Barry got there, it was too late. Linda and Iris' editor (Caitlin didn't know his name) was dead, and Linda was in a state of shock so bad from seeing her double that she barely registered the rest of the evening. Iris took her to the West's house, leaving Barry to come back to STAR Labs.

As he was running over, Caitlin turned on Jay, her face a mask of anger. "How could you do that?! You said that Dr. Light wouldn't kill anyone. Barry could have been _killed_ , just because he listened to you!"

Barry flashed into the Cortex, but Caitlin was on a role. She marched up to Jay, staring at him straight in the face. "If you think that just because you were the Flash on your Earth, it means that you can come and send our's to an early grave, well you are _wrong_."

Jay blinked at her, shocked, and Barry grabbed her arm. "Hey, hey, Caitlin, calm down. I'm fine, see?" He held out his arms to either side. "Fine. Just- just take a deep breath. Jay didn't know that she would kill someone. It wasn't his fault."

With one last glare at Earth 2's Flash, Caitlin turned on her heel and marched out of the room. She didn't care if everyone thought she was an awful person for it- Jay Garrick made her _mad_ and this was the last straw. What with the flirting, and barely contained jealousy... she had never _once_ lead him on in _any_ way.

Steaming, Caitlin nearly ran into Cisco. He caught her by shoulders. "Jeez, Caitlin, sorry." He looked at her, giving her a second to calm down before he spoke again. "Hey, you know, Jay didn't mean to hurt anyone."

"I know, I _know_." Caitlin groaned, dragging her fingers through her hair. "It's just- I don't know..."

Cisco patted her shoulder, albeit awkwardly. "Look, I'm not going to get in the middle of your love triangle drama-"

"My _what_?!"

"Point is!" Cisco cried before she could start up again. "You love Barry, and Barry knows it, and Jay knows, and so everyone's good, right?"

Caitlin nodded, dragging in a breath. "I should go apologize."

"Probably." Cisco agreed.

It was only after he had left, after she had apologized to Jay, that Caitlin noticed that she hadn't even corrected him when he had reminded her that she loved Barry.

Because she... loved Barry.

 **Flash!**

They located Dr. Light at the train station. She was trying to escape, from Zoom or Barry they didn't know, and they had to stop her.

Barry arrived in full Flash uniform at the train station and looked around. "Guys, I don't see her."

"Uh..." Cisco muttered. "She should be wearing a black trench coat." Caitlin narrowed her eyes at him. These new powers (which they had only recently discovered that he even had) were really quite a strange new novelty.

"Black trench coat..." Barry repeated, scanning the crowd. "Found her." He walked foreword, raising his voice to a yell. "Everyone get out of here- go, go!"

The crowd scattered, leaving just the Scarlet Speedster and his metahuman opponent. Dr. Light shrugged off her coat. "Why won't you just let me leave?"

"I can't let you leave." Barry said. "You killed an innocent man."

"That was an accident!" Light cried, walking foreword fast now.

"Trying to kill Linda Park wasn't." Barry reminded her, letting the distance between them shorten, buying his time.

Dr. Light flinched. "It's the only way that I can be free from Zoom!" She yelled. "Unless I kill you."

Barry sighed. "Can't let you do that either, so, we've got a problem."

"We'll see." Light stuck out her hand, and a blast of white light shot towards Barry.

He flashed away, taking shelter behind some crates. "Guys, shoulda talked about this before I left-"

"That's what I'm _always_ telling you." Caitlin grumbled.

He tactfully ignored her. "How should I stop her?"

Jay leaned foreword, toward the comm. "Look for different angles, Barry. Find her blind spot."

After a few more seconds, Barry spoke up again. "I can't get close enough. What should I do?"

"I.. don't know." Jay said, unhelpfully.

"Hate to break it to ya," Barry gritted out. "That's not exactly the answer I was looking for."

It was Harry's turn to walk towards the mics. "You need to confuse her." He instructed. "Make her thing there are more then one targets, so she doesn't know who to fire at."

"Alright..." Barry sounded dubious. "How do we do that?"

"You're going to have to move so fast that you can create multiple after images of yourself. You'll make a speed mirage."

"A speed.. I've never run that fast." Barry protested desperately.

"Well, from what I've been told," Harry said, "You've traveled through time. You'll be more then fast enough."

Barry shrugged, having nothing to lose, and flashed off. It was the strangest sight- vibrating images of himself repeated over and over so that it looked like there were 10s of Barry's at the train station.

Dr. Light, losing patients with her random blasting, gathered herself in and thrust out a circle of light. The speed mirages disappeared, leaving Barry to fly back and hit the front of the train. He slid down the side, groaning.

"Barry?" Caitlin asked nervously.

"I can't do it." He groaned, voice raw with panting.

She bit her lip, and leaned towards the mic. "Yes, you can Barry. Harry is right- you are so fast, faster then the Reverse Flash. Don't let fear and doubt hold you back. You can _do_ this. I believe in you. You're the Flash, Barry. Show Light what that means."

Barry got to his feet, and flashed off again.

 **Flash!**

While Cisco was talking to Kendra (his new crush object, as Caitlin thought of it) at Jitters' serving counter, Barry and Caitlin got a little time alone.

"Hey, you alright?" He asked, tilting his head so he could see her face.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Caitlin shook her head. "I just... I'm worried that Jay left because I got mad at him earlier."

"Look, Jay is a hero." Barry reminded her. "He'll forgive you. And he'll come back just when we need him."

"Like you." She smiled softly, and he squeezed her hand.

"Of course." He grinned, a little teasingly. "I'm the best hero of them all."

"You are to me."

Cisco skipped over, planting their coffee's in front of them. "Flash for all of us, and, of course, decaf for Caitlin."

Barry raised an eyebrow. "Who gets a decaf Flash?" He asked.

"Someone who doesn't want to be up until 3am." Caitlin shot back.

Cisco leaned back in his chair, and flashed a piece of paper with a few hastily scribbled numbers on it. "Dude, Barry. Beat that."

"Wooooow..." Barry nodded appreciatively.

"That's how it's done, young padawan." Cisco popped Kendra's phone number on top of his coffee, and Caitlin turned a little in her seat so that she could get a look at the barista. "We're going on a date next week."

"Things are looking up for Cisco Ramon." Barry teased.

"I guess so." Cisco nodded, though his gaze shifted down toward the table. "Still stuck with these powers, though. I just don't know how I feel about them."

Barry clapped a hand on his shoulder. "Look. You don't have to go through it alone."

"And now," Caitlin added, eyes alight, "You need a cool name."

Cisco gave her a wide eyed look, excitement filtering back onto his face. "Oh snap..." He muttered. "You're totally right! Oooooh.. I gotta think about this one. I mean, it's gotta be perfect." He nodded, agreeing with himself, and Barry sent Caitlin a smirk. "Something that really sings, you know. Something like..."

"Vibe?" Barry offered.

"Vibe." Caitlin repeated in a dramatic voice."

Cisco got a contemplative look on his face, before nodding slowly. "Vibe."

And that settled it. Vibe.

 **Author's Note: Man, that one was unusually long! Hopefully still as good as the rest of them, though. :)**


	6. 2x06

**Author's Note: Welcome back, all! Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, favorited, and liked so far! I really appreciate all the support!**

 **BTW, this episode is going to be AWESOME! I'm so majorly excited for it, and if you know the episode, you'll know why.**

Caitlin visited Dr. Light in the Pipeline to bring her food after Barry locked her up. It was the only time she ever saw her, and it still weirded her out to no end. This girl looked _exactly_ like Iris' friend Linda Park- whom Caitlin had only met a few times, but still. It was the same reaction she had had to Harry, but, even after already experiencing it, was still just... weird. Doppelgangers were just _weird_.

Barry had some sort of plan (always worrisome), and he had invited everyone to the Cortex to share it. She followed Cisco up, and they both listened as Barry laid out his idea.

"Zoom wants Dr. Light... to send him your new emblem." Caitlin recapped incredulously.

"Yes, we need it for bait." Barry nodded. "If we can get Dr. Light to take my emblem, throw it through the breach, then Zoom will come to collect my body, and we can trap him." Caitlin tried not flinch at the part about the body.

She set down her coffee cup, and Cisco placed his hands behind his head. "You know it took a lot to make that emblem."

Caitlin was not satisfied with this plan. She actually _hated_ this plan, quite a bit. "This was the woman who was willing to kill Linda to escape Zoom. Now she's willing to help us catch him?"

"She knows it's the only way." Barry shrugged.

Harry walked down the steps of Caitlin office to properly join the conversation. "Before I left Earth 2, I worked on a serum to dampen Zoom's speed. All we would need is for Ramon to develop a weapon to deliver it."

Cisco rolled his eyes, and Caitlin gave Barry yet another incredulous look. "Oh, great!" She said sarcastically. "It could be this years cold gun. Maybe another criminal can get it, and then we'd have Sargent Slow!"

Barry's shoulders slumped, and she almost felt bad as she crushed his idea to the ground. Cisco gave her a look. "I would _never_ let that happen- Sargent Slow is a terrible name."

Caitlin ignored him. "Are we forgetting how much more powerful then Barry Zoom seems to be? I'm sorry, Barry, but it's true." She gave him a pleading look. "I mean, if Barry can catch bullets, who's to say that Zoom can't catch whatever you shoot at him?"

"Surprise." Harry answered. "The element of surprise. All we would do was rig a projectile to fire as Zoom crosses into the breach. He can't stop what he can't see coming."

"That's great." Barry murmured.

"Thanks."

Desperately, Caitlin turned to the man that was currently standing quietly in the corner. "Joe. Voice of reason, here?"

"We need a plan." Joe said, unhelpfully. "That's as good as any." He paused, Barry nodded. Joe looked up, and straight at Wells. "As long as he can deliver."

"Don't underestimate me, detective." Harry said, almost dangerously, turning and walking off.

Barry's phone buzzed, and he looked down at it. "Oh, Singh needs us back at the station." He told Joe. "I'll meet you there." He bent down to kiss Caitlin cheek (she batted him away, still annoyed), and strode out.

Caitlin and Cisco exchanged glances, before standing up simultaneously and converging on Joe. "Are you just forgetting everything Jay told us and siding with Wells, now?" Caitlin asked.

Joe shook his head, vehemently. "Oh, no, I don't trust Wells at all. I just want to see what he's up to, I figured we'd give him something to do."

"Yeah, I'm totally with you." Cisco said quietly. "I think he's up to something."

"Look." Joe sighed, following Cisco's gaze to the man that looked so much like their old mentor. "My hunch, after interrogating suspects after all these years... Something's not right with this dude." He let out a sigh, then looked to Cisco. "Barry told me about this thing you can do?"

"Vibing." Caitlin grinned excitedly.

"Relax." Cisco told her, not seeming all that excited with it himself.

"Can you do it with Wells?" Joe pressed.

Cisco frowned, not having thought of it before. "I can try."

Joe clapped him on the shoulder with a tilt of his head, and briefly squeezed Caitlin's shoulder. "I haven't seen you around my house lately."

She smiled. "Sorry, we've been busy."

"No excuses, young lady." He gave her a returning smile. "Even geniuses need a break, every once and awhile."

"I'll talk to Barry about it." She said, fondly shaking her head, then turning to her friend. "You talk to Wells, ok, Cisco? I'll see you later?"

"Yep..." He muttered distractedly. "I will talk to Wells. Oh boy."

 **Flash!**

Caitlin still found it weird to even go bring Earth-2 Linda food, so she sent Cisco down. It didn't go well.

She was just settling into her chair with her own lunch and a cup of coffee when Cisco buzzed up to the Cortex. "Dr. Light's gone invisible!" He yelled, obviously distressed. "Shut the doors!" As he ran out of the Pipeline, he shot a look at the cameras, and repeated, "Shut the doors!"

Caitlin leapt unto the nearest computer. "The doors aren't responding." She cried. "None of the security protocols are responding!"

Harry joined her at an adjoining computer. "She's hacked the system."

"Barry!" Caitlin yelled. "Dr. Light is escaping!"

He came back empty handed, and frustrated beyond belief. When he saw Caitlin, he moved over. "You're ok? She didn't hurt you?" His gaze shifted reluctantly to Harry. "Either of you?"

"No, no, we're fine." Caitlin assured him quickly. "Did you find her?"

He shook his head, restlessly. "We need to, especially if we want this plan to work."

Joe walked in, presumably called by Cisco, who followed him. He scrubbed a hand over his short cropped hair. "We need to figure out what we're going to do next."

"Do you think Dr. Light is going to try to take Linda again?" Caitlin suggested.

Barry shook his head. "I had Iris bring her to the house, just in case, to keep an eye on her."

Joe didn't look very pleased about that, but all he whispered to Caitlin was, "See, he brings her there, why not you?" She nudged him, fighting her smile. This was serious.

"How are we doing with the speed dampener?" Barry asked his team.

Ready to give some good news, Caitlin said, "I think we've isolated the composite."

"And we're modifying the dark the Arrow used to take down Wells." Cisco put in.

"You know what I'm thinking?" Joe said. "Maybe it's a good thing that Dr. Light is gone, maybe it's the universe stopping us from doing something _really stupid_." Caitlin nodded in agreement. Her point exactly.

But Barry shook his head stubbornly. "No. No! Keep going. I'm gonna figure out another way to get Zoom."

He turned on his heel, and followed Harry out the door. Joe held up and finger and strode quickly after him. Cisco turned to Caitlin. "Hey... Barry likes you, and he listens to you. Maybe you can talk him out of this?"

Caitlin sighed. "If Joe can't, I really don't think that I can, Cisco. I'm not even his father, or older then him, or his voice of reason. I'm just his girlfriend."

"Hey, that can be pretty powerful, too." Cisco shrugged, patting her on the shoulder. "I talked to Harry. The least you can do is try and talk some sense into him."

Blowing hair out of her face, Caitlin leaned her weight on one hip. She supposed it wouldn't hurt to try.

 **Flash!**

"Barry? Hey, Barry, wait!" Caitlin moved as fast as she could with her 3inch heels down the hallway and toward her boyfriend.

He turned, about to reach the elevator. "What's up?"

"I- I need to talk to you." Caitlin came to a stop, biting her lip and preparing herself for whatever difficult conversation was about to come. "About... your plan."

Barry's mouth pinched into a frown, and he crossed his arms. "Look, I know you don't support it, but do you -or Joe- really have a better one? We can't just sit here and wait around for Zoom to come and destroy all of us. _We_ need to get the jump on _him._ Even Harry agrees with us!"

Caitlin pinched the bridge of her nose, fighting her rarely-seen temper. "I _understand that_ , Barry. My point still stands. For all we know, Zoom has heard about our plan from Dr. Light, who went to him to be set free with this information-"

"She wouldn't risk that." Barry interrupted. "Dr. Light knows that her best chance of escaping Zoom is for him to be out of the picture. I really don't think that she would believe Zoom would let her go just because of some small piece of only slightly helpful information. Which, by the way, wouldn't even be relevant if she wasn't there to make the plan happen!"

"Still!" Caitlin resisted the urge to stomp her foot in frustration. "We can't trust Dr. Light- especially after what she pulled. And I know you think that we can still pull off this plan- which I honestly don't think that we _can_ \- but what if it doesn't work? What if Zoom gets to us before we get to him, and he hurts you?"

"You have to trust me, Caitlin." Barry placed his hands on either one of her shoulders, looking a bit condescending, if you asked her. "We're going to stop Zoom by getting the jump on him. My plan with work."

And with that seemingly settled, he turned and flashed off.

 **Flash!**

Barry took his half-cooked idea... and he turned it into a eight-cooked one. Now, instead of using Dr. Light, he had gotten it into his head that using _Linda_ , Dr. Light's, doppelganger, to pretend to be the evil meta. She would "fight" Barry, trick Zoom (yeah, right), and they would throw Barry's emblem into a breach. Then Zoom would come through, and they would spring a trap.

Because that was _totally_ going to work.

Linda seemed to be thinking the same thing Caitlin was- except more on the level that she didn't think that she could act as her doppelganger.

She walked up to where Barry and Caitlin were standing, Barry in his Flash suit, vibrating his voice on the slim chance that he would be recognized. "This is ridiculous." She muttered.

"No, it's not." Barry disagreed. "You look just like Dr. Light."

To an alarming level, actually. They moved over to a raised platform, watching Joe and Cisco fool around with the life-size cardboard cutouts of all of them.

"And with these gloves that Cisco rigged up, you'll be able to do what she does." Caitlin handed Linda two black, leather articles, with circles of power on the palms.

Linda slipped them on hesitantly. Iris spoke up. "Don't worry- they are _totally_ safe."

Harry, standing next to her, tilted his head. "Ish."

"Ish?"

"Oh come on!" Cisco called, coming down from one of the support beams as he finished rigging the cutouts. "They need to be believable, so they really do fire. And explode things." He pointed at Barry. "And you are going to have to let her hit you with those blasts once she gets the hang of it."

Caitlin winced. She _really_ hated this plan.

Joe, as usual, seemed to share her opinion. "Who... exactly came up with this terrible idea?"

"Ok, it's not a terrible idea." Cisco protested. Caitlin gave him an unconvinced look. "The suit can absorb the blasts!"

"For real?" Iris asked. "Or... ish?"

"What does a terrible idea look like to you, Cisco?" Joe said bluntly.

Cisco, annoyed, thew his hands in the air. "Ok, you know what? I like to think I can see the bright side of things, ok? _Positivity_ , people!"

As Joe, Iris, Cisco and Harry set themselves up behind the control board, Barry, Caitlin and Linda walked toward the randomly placed cutouts. "Alright." Barry sighed. "Just hit the ones of me, ok?"

Linda nodded, a look of determination that Caitlin was definitely impressed with settling over her face. "Ok." She said. "Got it."

A few tried later and Barry had to catch her around the waist to prevent her falling over. Cutouts of Joe, Cisco and Caitlin all had large holes in them.

"You know what?" Cisco asked, standing abruptly, and holding out his hand. "I'm just going to adjust those a little- screwdriver." He raced down the steps and got to work, leaving the rest of them to watch the cardboard Joe begin to burn.

"Okaaaay... so." Barry said, attempting to be supportive. "Do the opposite of that, and we'll have it."

Caitlin nodded encouragingly (sort of), and Cisco's cutout fell over with a squeaky crash.

They walked slowly into the training field. Linda winced every time a new cutout swung down from it's hook, but refrained from blasting at both Cisco and Caitlin. A cardboard Flash fell, and she spun, sticking out her hand.

"Oh, oh!" She shrieked, ripping at her glove. "It's on fire."

Barry flashed away and came back with a fire extinguisher. "Ah, sorry!" He yelled as Linda staggered backward, shielding her face from the blast.

Caitlin hurried over to check her hand for injuries. Cisco stood, looking embarrassed. "My bad."

They spent the next half hour walking through STAR Labs basement, watching Linda struggle with her instinct to fire at the cutouts.

Finally, after way too many "casualties", Linda avoided blasting every cutout except the Flash's. They stopped it there, letting her excitedly rejoice of her success.

It was cut short as Linda moved to give Barry a high five. A beam from her gloves shot out and flew all the way across the room, hitting the control board that most of Team Flash was hiding behind.

"All good? You ok?" Barry asked anxiously.

"Sorry!" Linda winced.

 **Flash!**

After an hour more of practice, everyone minus Linda all reconvened in the Cortex. "Ok." Caitlin stated. "No offense to Linda, but there is no way she can pull this off."

Barry opened his mouth, ready to argue, but Harry beat him to it. "Well, maybe if she didn't scream every time she fired."

"Yep, Linda had a rocky start, but she can pull this off." Barry said stubbornly. "I know she can." He turned his attention to Cisco, promptly cutting off any other doubts. "Did you find a breach where we don't have to worry about civilians getting in the way?"

"Yeah, there's a place by the docks that's usually deserted at night."

Barry looked to Caitlin. "And how are we doing with the speed dampener?"

"My tests indicate that it should work." Caitlin told him, still ladened with doubt.

"It will work." Harry said. "I'll tune up Ramon's gloves, make sure they work better."

He left the room without another word, and Barry moved to follow. "Great."

"Hey!" Cisco called after him. "We're _actually_ going to go through with this?"

That pulled Barry to a stop, if only for a second. "We're doing this." He said firmly. "I'm gonna have Iris get Linda ready."

Caitlin looked after him, then jutted her chin out at Joe suggestively. He broke away from the wall he was leaning on. "Yeah, I'll go talk to him."

"Good." Caitlin said. "Because he certainly didn't listen to me."

"Yeah, I kinda figured that." Cisco frowned. "Ah well, worth that shot."

With that, he stood up, and left the room as well.

 **Flash!**

As Caitlin had suspected, their plan completely failed. They waisted an hour, staring at computer feed as Linda paced and Barry tried not to fidget and Joe and Harry messed with their guns, all of them waiting for Zoom to arrive.

He didn't.

And then, when no one was expecting it, he appeared. He was demonic and _terrifying_ and a vibrating black, and Caitlin got shivers down her spine just _seeing_ him.

It started when they were all lounging the the Cortex. Cisco had just attached Barry's newest emblem to his suit ("Man, it's like you think these babies grow on trees."), and Caitlin was passing the time watching Harry look over the video feed from the fight.

"You've looked over these videos _dozens_ of times." She said as Barry walked over and wrapped an arm around her waist, chin falling tiredly onto her shoulder. "It went exactly according to plan."

"If it had," Harry muttered, head resting on his palm. "Zoom would have showed up."

"Maybe Light was wrong." Barry suggested, chin pressing into her shoulder as he talked. "Maybe he can't see through the breaches. Or maybe he finally decided to give up."

Harry took off his glasses and rubbed his face. Barry's phone buzzed, and he reached into his pocked. Caitlin peered over at him as he picked up the call. "Hey." His entire body went tense. "Whoa, whoa, Iris, slow down, I can't understand you."

Everyone jumped as Harry's meta watch buzzed. A second later, the STAR Labs alert system went crazy. Caitlin went cold. No..

Cisco dove over to his computer system. "Zoom has Linda!" Barry cried.

"He's on the roof." Cisco muttered.

Barry immediately flashed out, and Caitlin took a step foreword, willing herself not to call after him. Her heart thudded in her chest.

Cisco pulled up feed as soon as he could, and everyone left in STAR Labs peered down at the computer screen, watching tensely as the face off between the two speedsters began. "How the heck is Barry supposed to defeat _that_?" Cisco muttered.

"Why is he running away?" Harry asked as Barry took off. Caitlin glanced at the tracker, and watched as his tiny blip flashed around and around STAR Labs.

"He's not." Cisco realized. "He's not scared." With rising excitement, Cisco cried. "He's gonna thunderbomb him!"

"What?" Harry frowned.

"Jay taught him how to throw lightning." Caitlin informed him, a little more relaxed now that she knew that Barry had a plan. Maybe they would stop Zoom tonight, after all.

No such luck. Barry picked up speed, swirling faster and faster around the building, until he tossed a perfectly aimed streak of lighting directly at Zoom.

And he caught it. Zoom grabbed the light and whipped it back at Barry, throwing the red speedster back and into the wall. Barry crumpled with a groan. "Did you guys see that?"

Cisco's eyes went wide. "See him catch a bolt of lighting with his- demonic- claws?! Yeah, saw that."

Caitlin, frozen in shock, muttered. "Jay was right- he can't do this alone."

Harry strode out of her lab. "He's not alone." He twisted the neck of the gun, rapidly loading it.

"Run, Barry." Caitlin pleaded.

"No..." Barry murmured, pulling a syringe filled with speed dampening serum out of his boot, from where it was still there from their trap. "No. I'm gonna see if Wells' speed dampening serum works."

 _It's not worth it_. She wanted to scream. _It's not worth your life_.

"What do you want from me?" Barry yelled at Zoom.

"Everything..." Zoom growled, voice vibrating and low.

"You want to be me?" Barry asked. "Is that it? You want to be a hero?"

"Heroes die."

Barry got a dangerous look in his eyes. "Only if you can catch them."

With that he was off, flashing into a battle that took place on STAR Labs' walls, it's roof, the sky, and ended with his back smashed into the ground, Zoom at his throat.

It wasn't even a fair fight. Zoom was 10, no, _20_ times faster the Barry, and punched him over and over. Harry, now outside, hesitated, waiting for a clear shot that never came.

With one final hit, Zoom slammed his arm into Barry's back. Caitlin choked as the sound of shattering bones reached them even through the coms. His vitals were going insane.

Barry crumpled to the ground, beaten and bloody. Zoom raised his arm for the ending blow, and Harry fired.

The evil speedster spun with almost invisible-to-the-human-eye speed...

And caught the dart.

"Never forget." Zoom growled. "I am the fastest. Man. Alive." He turned, and stabbed his claws into Barry.

Caitlin was on her feet, sick to her stomach. "Cisco _do_ something! Zoom's killing him!"

Cisco looked just as upset, unsure of what he should do, running from computer to computer and yanking his fingers through his hair. Finally, he just settled on grabbing Caitlin's hand and squeezing _hard_. "Barry..."

Zoom ripped his hands out of Barry's chest, and turned with a menacing look toward Harry. "You're next."

Then he had picked up the Scarlet Speedster and flashed off.

Cisco and Caitlin both leapt unto their computers, Cisco trying to track Barry's suit, Caitlin trying not to look at his vitals.

Harry ran in, his gun still loaded and over his shoulder. "Anything?"

"No." Caitlin shook her head, fighting tears. Cisco's new mirrored hers.

And then they both appeared. Caitlin gasped, once again standing, as Zoom flashed into STAR Labs and held up Barry's limp, lifeless form. "Barry-"

"Harrison Wells..." Zoom growled. ( **A.N: Someone. Please.** ** _Get me a synonym for growled_** **)** "You thought you could defeat me? With this?" He reached down and peeled Barry's cowl off. Barry's head lolled to the side, dripping with blood.

Caitlin couldn't look away.

"I made a mistake." Harry breathed.

"Yeeeeees..." Zoom said, eyes narrowed as he broke his gaze with Wells to watch as Cisco slowly moved behind the desks so he was resting with his hand on Caitlin's shoulder. "A costly one."

The dark speedster wrapped his hand around Barry's neck, lifting him higher into the air. Barry's eyes flicked open, dazed with pain and the concussion he definitely had.

Zoom stabbed his finger into Barry's stomach, and his eyes bulged. Caitlin couldn't take it any longer. She stumbled foreword, tears on her cheeks. "Please- Please don't kill him!"

Zoom looked between him with his dark, soulless eyes. "Ah... yes. The feelings between you two are strong." He lifted Barry's head a little higher, bringing it to the hight of his own. "How much would it break you if I killed her."

"No-" Barry choked, weakly struggled. "Don't _touch_ her."

Zoom lowered his face again, sent Caitlin a sinister smile. "Luckily for you, I've got something better planed for her."

Suddenly trembling all over, Caitlin allowed Cisco to pull her back behind the desk.

Zoom raised Barry above his head. "Goodbye, Flash. You weren't fast enough." A second before he would have ended Barry's life, he flinched, hand shooting to his neck, where a small dark was sticking it.

Cisco was holding the gun. He lowered it, slowly, as Zoom looked around at them, then zipped away, dropping Barry's limp body to the ground.

Caitlin was the first around the desk. She slid to her knees, trying not to see Barry's face, and placed her hands on his chest. "Stay with me Barry. Stay with me. Please, Barry-"

Cisco helped her carry his body onto a gurney, and spent the next 3 hours in an intense, almost _zone_ of medical procedures. Cisco helped a little, but spent more of it in a chair beside Barry's bed, handing her tools and rubbing his forehead.

When she had finished setting bones, and wiping blood, and hooking him up to everything she could, Caitlin collapsed into a chair and burst into tears. Cisco was at her side in a second, wrapping his arms around her. He might not have been Barry, but he still gave pretty good hugs, and her sobs turned to sniffles after only a few minutes.

Joe was there. He had come as soon as he could realistically get away from the CCPD, and stood around Barry's bed, watching his son.

Harry walked into the room. His face was pale, voice most likely hoarse from screaming after Zoom's retreated for. Joe turned on him, "This is on you! If Barry dies, you die."

"Joe, please, Barry's vitals have stabilized, just let him go." Caitlin pleaded.

"No, Caitlin." Joe growled.

"Why?!" She cried, tears starting up again. "What good does that do for Barry?"

Joe still stood an inch away from Harry's face. "It's gonna help me."

Harry moved, attempting to leave again, but Joe shoved him against the support beams. Cisco grabbed his arm. "Joe. Stop." He turned to Harry, and asked, out of the blue, "Who's Jesse?"

Harry froze. "I knew it- I knew you'd- you'd- _vibed_ me." He grumped. "Jesse... Jesse's my daughter. Zoom took her."

The activity in the room froze, and for awhile, the only noise was the steady sound of Barry's heart monitor. Harry wouldn't meet there eyes. "I want to catch Zoom so that I can save her. She doesn't deserve this." He glanced up, and finding no answers, turned and left the room again.

Caitlin sat down with a sigh, wiping her eyes on the back of her hand. Joe sat down, too, apologizing quietly, before his words dropped off entirely, and his eyes fell to his lap.

They spent the rest of the night like that. Cisco begged out to go home and get some rest, promising to come as soon as there was news (or morning, whichever came first), with coffee. Joe eventually nodded off in his chair, hand resting lightly on Barry's.

Caitlin couldn't sleep. She waited for morning in a silent vigil, one hand grasped in Barry's, lightly resting along his pulse point. Any sleep she did have was restless and lasted only for brief periods of time. By morning, she was a wreck, and when Cisco showed up, he forced her to go and lie down.

She got her first bit of real sleep, and when she woke up, Cisco handed her coffee with a smile, and things were back to normal, at least for a little.

They were waiting around the Cortex when Cisco spoke. "Hey. I think he's waking up."

Caitlin turned quickly in her chair, standing and moving over to his side. "Barry." She whispered. "Barry?" With on hand, she rubbed his bare arm. His eyelids flickered. "Can you here me?"

Barry's eyes opened, slowly and laboriously. "Hey." He breathed, voice barely audible.

Cisco's face broke into a grin, and Caitlin yet again fought tears. "You scared the crap out of us, man." Cisco said with a heavy release of air. "You were gone for a long time."

"How bad is it?" Barry asked, still attempting to wake himself up.

"Bad." Caitlin told him honestly. "If you didn't heal so quickly- I'd be very worried." Her voice trembled, every so slightly, at the end, and Barry raised one arm toward her.

She lunged foreword into his embrace, carefully avoiding all of the wires she had hooked him up to, and buried her face into his shoulder. "I was so scared." She whispered. "I was scared you'd never wake up."

He kissed her hair, and Cisco, being an awesome wingman and even better best friend, didn't even tease them.

"How's Linda?" Barry asked, once Caitlin had recovered a little bit and pulled back.

"She's fine." Caitlin said. "She's staying with some friends in Coast City."

"Zoom?"

The two friends exchanged glances. "Let's- Let's worry about Zoom when you're up and about, ok?" Cisco told him, patting his knee.

Barry's began to sit up, his face going deathly pale. "Oh, no, you're staying put." Caitlin instructed, shaking her head at his stubbornness.

Something was wrong, though. Barry's hand ghosted over his thighs, and she saw it trembling violently. "Guys." He breathed. "Guys- I can't feel my legs."

 **Author's Note: YAYAY! Man, that was fun! Some great Hurt!Barry, and Protective!Barry** ** _and_** **Caitlin, and a little more Cisco then normal.. all good stuff, people!**


	7. 2x07

**Author's Note: If possible, I'm even more excited for this chapter then I was for episode 6! Episode 7 is Snowbarry's episode- seriously, 1x07: He lost his powers. 2x07: She gets kidnapped by Grodd. 3x07 (SPOILER!): Caitlin turns into Killer Frost. I can't wait to see what 4x07 brings!**

After the initial shock of Barry's paralysis, it didn't take him long to fall into a miserable hole. He was depressed, beaten down by Zoom and unable to pick himself up again.

Caitlin did her best. She helped him with all of the therapy she knew about, and spent every night at Joe's house, making sure he had what he needed. Most nights, she fell asleep in his arms, chasing away nightmares and phantom pain.

It still didn't seem to be enough, though. Barry was discouraged. Every new therapy session left him exhausted, and even though he was healing way, _way_ faster then a normal human, he was obviously starting to think he would never get his speed back again.

They were having him try walking without a cane for the first time today. Joe was at his side, helping him get to his feet and take the first few steps, but he eventually pulled away, taking Barry's cane from his hand.

Barry took a few, slow steps, then lurched foreword. Joe caught his arm, preventing his fall, and leaned him into a chair. "I can't do it, alright." Barry muttered, leaning his forehead on the heel of his hand.

"Yes you can." Joe told him firmly. "You are making so much progress."

Caitlin took her spot next to his wheelchair, gently rubbing at his shoulder. Barry looked up at his surrogate father. "Yeah, six whole steps. Someone give me a bozo button."

"Hey, give yourself some credit, you just broke your back." Cisco reminded him from his spot at his desk.

Iris nodded. "Yeah, a normal person would have been paralyzed for the rest of his life."

Barry tilted his head back, looking at Caitlin unhappily. "How long until I'm fully healed?"

She used her remote to show him the scans up on the screen. "The initial MRI I took showed a completely dislocation of the T-12 to L-1 interspace- a full columnar junction." She changed the picture. "But this is the MRI I took this morning. It's remarkable, but you're almost completely healed."

She knew that "almost" was enough for Barry, but seeing him up and about was more then enough to settle her when she woke up screaming at nights, hearing the noise of his back breaking over and over in her head.

"I'm still having trouble breathing." Barry told her, fingering the shirt at his chest.

"That's totally normal with a spinal injury." Caitlin said, smiling softly. "It should clear up soon."

He didn't seem to hear her, rolling foreword, gaze lost in the item hanging on the wall. Joe noticed. "We're gonna get you back in that suit, Barry. Real quick. Trust me."

Barry didn't respond, save for the tiniest of unconvinced nods. "What are we going to do about Zoom?"

"There's been no sign of him since Cisco nailed him with that tranq dart." Joe shrugged.

"And I haven't vibed since then." Cisco added, daring to be at least a little hopeful.

"Maybe Zoom's not coming back." Iris said.

Harry walked into the room, a black bag over his shoulder. "I doubt that." He muttered, typically pessimistic. "Which is why I'm going to go do something about it."

"What do you mean 'go do something about it'?" Caitlin asked nervously.

"I need access to your breach room, and your speed cannon."

"Why's that?" Barry pressed.

"Because Barry." Harry said, finally answering the question. "It's time to go home."

A shocked silence followed the statement. Joe looked annoyed. "So you show up on our Earth, screw everything up, and now you want to go home? Sounds _very_ familiar."

"Again." Harry snapped. "That wasn't me. I need to go take care of Zoom once and for all, before anyone else gets killed." His eyes slid, almost unconsciously, toward Barry.

Barry's gaze held. "How do you plan on do that?"

"I think of something." Harry said, offhandedly. "Ramon, if you'll escort me to the speed cannon."

Caitlin surprised herself by speaking up. "No, you can't go through the breach."

"Yes, he can." Cisco argued. "Jay taught us how to send people."

"That's not what I mean. If you can figure out how to stop Zoom on your Earth, you can figure out how to do it here." Barry wheelchair rolled up beside her, nearly bumping her legs. She held Harry's gaze. "We need you to stay here until we defeat Zoom, Dr. Wells."

"What I need, Dr. Snow." Harry responded, stepping slowly closer, his voice dangerously quiet. "Is to return home. And I'm going to do that. With out without your assistance."

Outraged, Caitlin opened her mouth, then slammed it shut again. Cisco gave her a look. "What're you doing? If he wants to go, bye!"

"Look." Caitlin sighed, anger quickly giving way to deep set exhaustion. "Like it or not, Cisco, we need his help."

Joe, Barry's cane draped over his neck, shook his head. "I'm not sure another plan from Wells is what we need."

"Yeah, I mean, the last bright idea he had nearly got Barry killed." Iris added.

 _Like she didn't relive that every night in her dreams_. "I know." Caitlin said, sadly glancing at Barry. "But Jay's gone. And Dr. Wells knows Zoom better then anyone, so, until Barry is back on his feet again, we need to keep Wells around in case Zoom returns."

"Caitlin." Barry said, firmly. "If he doesn't want to be here, we're better off without him, let him go."

Caitlin shook her head, more stubbornly. "I can't do that yet." She leaned down and pressed a kiss to Barry's lips. "I'll see you later, ok? Keep working on your steps."

"Where are you going?"

"To talk to Dr. Wells."

She left before anyone could argue.

 **Flash!**

Caitlin returned from her talk with Wells partly discouraged, partly successful. She walked into the Cortex to find Joe and Iris peering in through the glass of the treadmill room.

Barry glanced over and smiled slightly when he saw her. "Running now." She commented. "That's great."

Joe patted her back in a greeting. "He's been doing very well." He turned back to his son. "Come on, Barry, push yourself!"

They watched him run for a little while, panting heavily. Suddenly, his face turned pale and he tripped, falling hard and shooting of the treadmill.

Caitlin gasped, rushing into the room to help him sit up, Joe and Iris close behind her. "Are you ok?"

She frowned as he pushed her away, hand on his lower back as he climbed to his feet. "Yeah, no, not great right now." Joe spoke up in concern, and Barry fell into a crouch, rubbing his forehead. "Never mind, I'm good, just forget it."

"Barry." Iris said unhappily. "Talk to us. We can help you."

"No, you can't help me." Barry snapped. "This time, I'm sorry."

Caitlin moved so she was kneeling before him, itching to run some tests but not feeling like he would appreciate it. Joe and Iris, catching on that they needed a moment, slowly filed out of the room. "What's going on, Barry?" Caitlin asked, gently.

Barry shook his head. "Zoom destroyed me." He whispered. "He showed everyone in Central City what he could do, and that I'm _powerless_ to stop him. They gave me the key to the city, Caitlin. I'm supposed to be their hero; I'm supposed to be the guy that can protect them from something as evil as him." His voice, which had been slowly raising, dropped back down to a whisper so broken it hurt Caitlin to hear. "And I failed. In front of all of them!"

He got to his feet, ignoring her outreached hand, and grabbed onto his cane. "When they think of the Flash, all they see is someone who's not strong enough to protect them."

Caitlin reached for him, trying to grab his arm, but he just shook his head, pushing past her and out the door. Her hand fell to her side as she stared after him, thinking deep down that Zoom had broken more then just Barry's back.

He had broken his spirit.

 **Flash!**

Barry was staring listlessly at the ground, slowly moving his chair from side to side, when Cisco came charging into the room. "Did Caitlin come through here?"

Barry looked up at his entrance. "No. I thought she had gone to help you with the breach stuff?"

"She did. And then she _hit me_ in the _face_ , and went away."

"Yo!" Joe bellowed, running into the room. "Grodd." He gasped, eyes huge."

"What?"

"Grodd's back." Joe reiterated, panting.

"Caitlin..." Cisco breathed. "That must have been why she was acting like that. She was being mind controlled!" He leapt over to his computer layout and got to work typing.

Sick with worry, Barry rolled over. The feeds from outside showed Caitlin walking out the door, and then a huge gorilla coming out from around the corner, following her.

Barry leapt to his feet, moving as fast as he could toward the door. By then time they got outside, any traces of Caitlin or Grodd where long gone.

Barry felt his stomach drop in terror, and he slammed his cane onto the ground. He suddenly understood how Caitlin felt every time he went out to fight metas, every time he came back bloody and hurt. He understood her fear after Zoom broke him- probably worse then his own. It made him ill.

Joe was shaking his head in disbelief. "I can't believe he took her. How could he take her?"

Cisco seemed in the same point of shock, and he tugged one hand through his hair in frustration, "Why does it have to be her _every time_?"

They filed back up to STAR Labs, greeting a newly returned Harry on their way up the stairs. Cisco filled him in in a flat, emotionless voice. He took it rather well. "Kidnapped by Gorillas? Huh."

When they reached the Cortex, Cisco played over the feed again, for Harry's benefit more then anyone else's. "I'm continually amazed by the similarities between our two worlds." He muttered.

"You got talking gorillas on your Earth, too?" Joe asked, voice disbelieving, but more like nothing could ever surprise him again.

"Yeah."

"Ugh. Remind me never to go there."

"Ramon, why would this... _Grodd_ abduct Dr. Snow?" Harry questioned Cisco.

The tech whiz continued to stare blankly at the feed. "I don't know." He sighed. "It doesn't make any sense. She was always _so nice_ to him."

"He mind controlled to lab technicians to steal chemicals that enhance intelligence. He needs her for something." Joe said.

Barry continued not to contribute to the conversation, barely hearing it over the thoughts whirling around in his own head. He was squeezing the cane in his lap so tightly his hands were beginning to hurt, but he wanted to do more then that. He wanted to throw something, so scream at them to find her before something awful- something _more_ awful- happened to her. What if she was scared? Was Grodd hurting her right now?

Cisco switched the feed to an overview of the city streets. "It seems like Grodd's left his bachelor pad in the sewers."

Joe shook his head. "He's a massive gorilla! He can't just... waltz through downtown in the middle of the day without anybody noticing."

Working off that idea, Harry suggested. "If there's been sightings, we could be able to proximate his location."

"I can call CCPD." Joe offered. "They can access the tip hotline, files on Grodd's recent attacks."

"Good."

Cisco got to his feet, face set. "We've gotta get her back."

"We will." Harry murmured. They both turned and left the room.

Joe glanced over at his son. "Barry." He said, quietly, trying to get his attention. No response. "Barry!"

Barry glanced up, startled. "Yep?" Still squeezing his cane with the grip of a viper, he twisted it back and forth.

"Don't blame yourself for this." Joe cautioned. "There's nothing you could have done."

The words didn't help. Guilt was still settled over his shoulders like an icy blanket, crouched in his gut like a rock. "I- I- I still don't have my speed back. How are we supposed to save her from Grodd?" _I was supposed to save her, Joe. I was supposed to be her hero. I've failed her._

"You may not have your legs just yet," Joe said, not quite able to read his thoughts, but probably knowing, after all these years, what was going on inside of his son's head. "But you still have that brain. Use it."

Barry rolled over to the layout of the city as Joe left the room. He rubbed his forehead, trying to release the tension building up behind him eyes. More then anything, he just wanted to see Caitlin again. If he lost her... he needed to tell her that... he loved her. He loved her _so much_.

"Where are you?" He whispered at the maps.

But of course, no answer came.

 **Flash!**

With Caitlin... gone, there was no one there to give Barry his daily MRI for his back. So he called in his dad -for that reason and others-.

Henry came immediately, partially because of his son, partially because of the news about Caitlin. They sat together, talking, as Henry checked out Barry's back. "The bone fused beautifully. You're all good, Barry. I'd give you some physical therapy, but you don't need it."

Barry pulled down his shirt, smiling a little bit at his dad. "I'm really glad you're here, dad."

"Me too." Henry murmured. "You know, I tried to call, but you can't get a cell in Granite Peak National Park, so."

"Granite Peak?" Barry asked. "What- You went camping by yourself?"

"Yeah, yeah, I got a tent, I went fishing every day." He clapped Barry on the knee, but his son couldn't meet his gaze. "I have had my fill of large mouth bass for awhile."

Barry looked at his lap, unable to keep a smile on his face, and not wanting his dad to see it. Henry looked down kindly at him. "Sometimes you just have to slow down." He said softly. "To get back to where you want to be."

Barry felt his chest constrict almost painfully, and, for once, it wasn't because of his back injury. Henry placed his palm on Barry's cheek. "Caitlin's going to be ok, you know that, right? You guys are going to find her- just like you found her last time, and how you found me. You can save anyone you try to."

"I know that-" Barry cut himself off before his voice could break, took a deep breath, and tried again. "Dad.. I love her. I need her to know."

"You'll get to tell her when she gets back." Henry murmured, exuding a confidence in Team Flash that Barry didn't share that the moment.

Cisco came rushing into the room. "Hey, guys!" He cried, face much more animated then it had been, early. "I think we found them."

Barry turned, eyes wide, and got to his feet. He followed Cisco in a rush down the steps, toward a computer layout. Cisco pointed at the screen. "Grodd has to be in one of these three bell towers." He told them, gesturing to the red blips on the map. "It's the reason we couldn't find him on any of the cameras under the city before, because he upgraded from a bachelor's pad to a penthouse apartment."

"Ok, so we know where he is, we still don't know how to get her." Barry said.

"We've got a plan for you..." Cisco told him, though his face was revealing that this wasn't his favorite plan.

"What is it?"

"Use me." Came a voice from the hallway. Barry whipped around to see the Reverse Flash standing there. He moved faster then he had all week, slamming his shoulder into Eobard's gut and sending him into the wall.

"That's Harry! That's the other Wells!" Cisco yelled, rushing foreword.

"Barry-" Harry choked, voice strangled by Barry's arm at his throat.

"Let him go, let him go!" Cisco urged, pulled Barry away. "I found another suit in the time vault."

Henry was staring with well-mastered shock at Wells. "I thought he was dead."

"He is dead." Barry stuffed his hands into his pockets, on edge and unhappy. "This is Harrison Wells from Earth 2."

Henry turned to blink at him, looking like he wanted to say something, but was restraining himself. "Earth... 2?"

"I'll explain later."

"If we can get Harry to convince Grodd that he's Wells- his father, maybe we can convince him to let Caitlin go." Cisco explained.

It was a crazy plan; half cooked and slightly ridiculous. But the team was starting to grasp at straws to get their favorite doctor back, and this was the best idea they had. So Barry nodded. "I'm not going to be able to help if anything goes wrong." He warned Harry.

"That's a chance I'm willing to take."

 **Flash!**

Henry and Barry were sitting in the Cortex, watching the screens of the computers as they waited for news. Barry felt a little better after their conversation- one about decisions, and not letting Zoom beat him, and Henry's life having everyone think that he had killed his wife.

Iris joined them after a bit as Cisco and Harry buzzed it, telling them that ehy had found Grodd.. and Caitlin. Barry was itching to ask how she was- if she was hurt, if she seemed ok- but Harry had to concentrate on playing the part of an evil psychopath, so he restrained himself.

It was a little bit creepy how well Harry impersonated Wells. Barry could only guess what was going through Caitlin's head right now as he went on about not dying, but only leaving for a little while.

"Now that I'm back," Harry said, "We don't need Caitlin anymore, do we, buddy? So you can let her go."

Grodd growled, head swinging back and forth between his capture and his father. "Come one, buddy. Let me get her out of here. Please."

That pushed him over. Grodd roared. "Father never ask. Father _take_."

"Run." Caitlin whispered. She bolted through the door, but Grodd's mind control kept her from going farther.

"Who _are_ you?!" Grodd growled, backhanding Harry across the face and sending him flying into the wall

"Cisco, you gotta get in there, man." Barry instructed tensely.

They watched the cameras as Cisco ran in and popped to ear buds into Caitlin's ears to dampen the mind control. Her ridged for relaxed, and she reached for Cisco's arm. "Oh, Cisco, thank God."

Relief flooded through ever muscle in Barry's body, but they weren't done yet. "Get out of there."

"Harry's still trapped!" Cisco protested. "We can't leave him here- what do we do?"

Barry's mind went blank for a second. Joe nodded at him with his chin, urging him think.

Think. Brain. Chemicals. Why Grodd needed Caitlin in the first place. "The- the drugs! The drugs that Grodd stole. Wells, an overdose of those drugs will shock his brain, ok? Just.. hit him with as much as you can."

"You are not him." Grodd telepathically growled. "You are not father!"

"I am- father." Harry groaned, struggling to get to his feet. "And you- hit- father. Grodd... look at me." He reached down as the gorilla's attention was diverted, grabbing a handful of syringes. "LOOK AT ME!"

Grodd roared angrily, head swinging to stare at Wells.

"I will never- leave you here- alone. Grodd, I made you a promise." He was so close to the gorilla now, just a few more steps... "I have bigger plans for you. Remember? One day, this city will be yours. I promised you. I intend to honor that promise."

The suit and the voice were just too similar. Barry's felt goosebumps raised along his back even though her knew the plan. If this wasn't convincing Grodd... he was much smarter then anyone gave him credit for.

With one, hard swing of his arm, Harry slammed the syringes into Grodd's leg. "GO!" He yelled at Cisco and Caitlin.

They ran, and Harry followed.

 **Flash!**

The second they arrived at STAR Labs, Barry was out of the Cortex and run/limping down the hall. He gathered Caitlin into his arms as she barreled into them, pressed her face hard into his shoulder and wrapping her arms tightly around his torso.

When she pulled back, there were tears in her eyes, but not for the reason he expected. "I- I just _left_ Grodd there- it wasn't his fault-" She sniffled, and Barry's heart did a strange sort of twisting motion in chest. This woman was literally the most amazing thing in the world.

"I love you." He said simply, watching as her face spun between surprise, confusion, happiness, and then a few emotions that were somewhere in between. She had opened her mouth to respond -whatever her response would be- when Cisco called from inside the Cortex.

"Caitlin! Harry needs your medical expertise."

Barry reluctantly let go of her upper arms, which he had been gently grasping, and with one that look over her shoulder, she disappeared into the Cortex.

Harry would be fine. After Caitlin did a quick, mandatory checkup, he was rolling off the bed to stand on his own. As she worked, she told them what had happened while she was kidnapped, what Grodd had wanted, and why he had taken her.

"I'm impressed." Barry complimented her, tucking her under his arm as soon as he could. "I think we all are."

"We need to do something about Grodd." Joe stated, unnecessarily.

"Like what?" Iris asked.

"Like get rid of him. For good."

Once again, Caitlin's unfailing compassion shone through. "You want to kill him?"

"Considering how many people he's killed?" Joe gave her a weird look. "Yeah."

Caitlin's gaze fell to the floor, and Barry tightened his grip fractionally. "This isn't Grodd's fault." She said, repeating her statement from before. "He's only like this because Wells made him this way."

"Yes... but Cait, he kidnapped you, and you could have died." Barry reminded her, pulling her closer.

"You didn't see what I saw." Caitlin insisted. "Grodd's getting smarter. He's lonely and sad. He wants more apes like him."

Cisco narrowed his eyes. "What are you suggesting? That he wants kids?" Caitlin shrugged. "Because I'm pretty sure one telepathic ape is enough for this city."

"I know somewhere we could send him." Everyone turned to look at Harry. He pulled a gray sweater over his head. "Gorilla City."

Everyone continued to look blankly at him until he explained, "There's a population of gorillas that are like Grodd on my Earth. If we stick with our breach plan, we could send him through. We'd just need to find the right breach."

"I've already got that bit figured out." Cisco informed them. "I found a way to open one. It uses that Quark Matter stuff that Jay gave us, and the Speed Cannon. It should work.

"Should?" Iris asked suspiciously. Cisco nodded.

"It sounds like the best plan we have." Barry said with a shrug. He glanced down at Caitlin. "Work for you?"

She nodded, shooting him a smile. "Let's do it."

 **Flash!**

The plan included using Caitlin as bait, which made Barry nervous. But after she nearly yelled at him because of his overprotectiveness, he agreed to let her try.

Barry flashed her to an alleyway, near the clock tower where they had found Grodd. Then he ran off.

Caitlin stood in the damp, cold alleyway, staring up at the building in front of her. "Grodd!" She yelled.

There was a long pause. Then a voice spoke inside of her head. "Caitlin..." Grodd thrust himself through the wall, falling long and hard to the pavement. The ground shook when he landed, but Caitlin barely had time to feel the shockwaves before Barry had grabbed her and was running away.

He placed her a good distance away, then flashed back to the gorilla. "You want Caitlin, Grodd?" He shouted. "You're going to have to catch me first."

Their chase began, Barry keeping to the streets, making sure he never got too far ahead, so that Grodd wouldn't give up and try to find Caitlin a different way. Grodd hopped from rooftop to rooftop, never tiring, always keeping the flash of lighting in sight.

Barry lead him to the breach, trying to take a slightly less direct path so that Grodd wouldn't guess he was being lead into a trap. They didn't have a guarantee that Grodd would fall for this. They also didn't have a plan B.

"Cisco? Almost there, are you ready?"

"I'm in position." Cisco responded, speaking into his phone.

"Now." Harry said, spraying paint on the ground. "Once you turn on the Speed Cannon, the quark matter will stabilize, stretching the breach about this big." He demonstrated with his arms. "Anywhere within this circle will suffice."

The two men ran over to the side to wait. Cisco scanned the rooftops, waiting for Grodd to come into view.

Barry arrived first, his speed lightning lighting up the night like a torch. "Right on time." Harry murmured.

Barry slid to a stop, gravel sliding beneath his feet. "Here we go." He whispered, preparing himself. "I don't have eyes on Grodd, does anyone see him?"

A growling sound filled the night, and Barry looked up just in time to flash out of the way of Grodd's jump to the ground. Grodd stalked foreword. "Where is Caitlin?"

Grodd's mind controlling images flooded Barry's head, but this time, they were his own. Zoom, breaking his back, stabbing him, defeating him, over and over, playing on a loop inside his brain. Stunned, Barry wasn't prepared as Grodd hit him across the face, sending him flying backwards.

Before Barry could get to his feet, Grodd had stalked over, slamming the speedster to the ground with a foot on his chest. "Where is Caitlin?!" He demanded angrily in Barry's mind.

Barry struggled to move Grodd's foot, air coming shorter to his chest. He went cold at the sound of a very familiar voice.

"Right here." Caitlin said. Grodd's head spun in her direction, as did Barry's. He shook his violently, telling her to leave.

"You need to let him go, Grodd." Caitlin commanded, scared, but doing a good job of hiding it.

"Flash is my enemy." Grodd growled. "Now you, too..."

"No!" Caitlin protested, and Barry was terrified to see her take a few steps foreword, closer to the gorilla. "He was trying to save me from you. We didn't understand what you wanted, but now we do. I can give you what you want." She stopped right in the center of the circle Harry had drawn, eyes pleading. "I can give you a home. You just have to trust me."

Grodd's entire posture relaxed, and, slowly, he lifted his foot from Barry's chest. Barry rolled over, weak and coughing, and Caitlin had to resist the urge to run to his side.

"Alright, here he comes." Harry murmured, and Cisco tensed preparing to press the button that would open the breach.

Grodd stalked toward Caitlin, and as Barry got painfully to his feet, he saw her trembling. But she held her ground, the only movement being the clenching of her fists as Grodd came closer and closer.

"Be ready to flip the switch." Harry instructed. Then, "Now, Barry!"

Barry sprinted into action, dragging Caitlin out of the way as the blue breach spun to life. Grodd howled, straining to free himself from it's grasp.

Barry set Caitlin on the ground, and, without even realizing he was doing it, took a step in front of her. One arm went out, protectively shielding her from the massive, struggling animal.

Even with the breach at full power, Grodd's brute strength was beginning to win. He took a struggling step foreword. Then another.

"Barry." Henry's voice rang in Barry's ear. "You can't let Grodd get free. Conquer your fears, son. Believe in yourself."

Barry stood up straighter, his whole being filled with a new purpose. He narrowed his eyes at Grodd, and flashed off. It took his no longer then a second to get to 5.3 miles away, then back at the giant gorilla.

Barry super-punched him in the stomach, and the breach took it's hold on Grodd, pulling him into it's swirling depths.

Everyone let out a sigh of relief and relaxed, but Barry, looking up at Caitlin, saw her gazing into the spot where the breach had been, still seeing in her head Grodd reaching out for her one last time.

Still, she offered Barry a weak smile, and, once he had gotten to his feet, he crushed her in one, massive, all consuming hug. "I love you." He whispered, for the second time that day, into her ear. "I love you _so much_."

She leaned back and smiled again, a real one. "I love you too, Barry Allen."

 **Flash!**

They went back to Joe's house together, just like every day for the past week. Joe gave her a large hug in welcome, and immediately got her something to drink (he already knew her favorite alcohol, no asking necessary). Barry pulled her onto the couch so that she was sitting on his lap.

She burst into tears.

Barry, looking alarmed, stared into her face. "Hey- Hey! What's wrong? Are you hurt? Caitlin, talk to me."

She sniffled, wiping furiously at her eyes. "I'm sorry- no, I'm not hurt, Grodd- he just- he gave me this look, right before he got sucked into the breach- I just- Barry- he thought I was going to save him, and be there for him, and I _couldn't_ be."

"I know how he feels." Barry murmured, smoothing out the hair on the side of her face. "Two days ago, when you were kidnapped- Cait, I've never been so scared. Even when I fought the Reverse Flash. Even when Zoom broke my back. Even when I found out I was paralyzed. When I saw Grodd lumbering after you, and I couldn't stop him- it-" He shuddered.

"I'm sorry." Caitlin whispered. "I wish I could have done something to save myself. I make you worry all the time, and-"

Barry cut her off in the only way he knew how. He lowered her back against the couch, mouth covering hers at an angle, biting at her lips and tangling his tongue with hers. Caitlin gasped quietly, reaching up around his neck and pulling his closer.

Barry pulled away slightly, breathing heavily. "Never, _ever_ think that." He almost growled. She shivered. "Caitlin, you are the most important thing in my life. Even if you _could_ somehow fight Grodd, I would still worry about you."

She nodded, a little bit breathless. "Ok."

They looked at each other for a little bit, before attacking each other's mouths again.

Joe coughed. "When you two are quite done, I've got your drink, Caitlin."

Barry pulled off of her with a groan, resting his forehead embarrassedly against her shoulder. "Joe..."

Caitlin broke into giggles, wiping the remaining tears off her face, and taking her glass with an apologetic smile. "Sorry."

He shook his head. "Young people." And planted himself directly in between Barry and Caitlin.

Barry gaped like a fish. "Joe!" He cried, amazing at his father's will to keep them apart. "I was- we were- we were talking!"

Joe raised his eyebrow, and Caitlin laughed harder. "You call that talking?" The cop asked. "We've got some very different definitions of talking."

Barry got up with a huff, gently pushed his father aside, and took his spot next to Caitlin. She curled up into his side immediately, smiling at Joe. "You _did_ say you wanted him to bring me over more..." She said, reminding him of their conversation a few weeks ago.

Joe pinched up his face. "Man I say stupid things. Kidding! Kidding." He added hurriedly when Barry opened his mouth again. "You're welcome anytime, Caitlin."

"Thanks, Joe." Caitlin smiled, resting her head on Barry's shoulder.

"I love you." He breathed into her hair.

"I love you, too." Caitlin responded.

Joe cued up Netflix, and Caitlin sighed happily, right where she belonged.

 **Author's Note: Alright... so the end was a little bit sappier then usual. Ah, well, what can you do?**


	8. 2x08

**Author's Note: So, this one could end up being a little bit uninspired, but, hey, it's a Flarrow Crossover, the first real one of this series! And, because Caitlin isn't actually there for most of it.. guess what? I'm adding her in. Iris can help Harry with whatever they were doing back at STAR labs. Or they can just... do it another time or something.**

 **PLEASE READ FOR CLARIFICATION: Just as a quick reminder, I didn't rewrite 1x08 of the flash, finding it a bit difficult to deal with that much angst so early in Barry and Caitlin relationship. I'm... sort of regretting it now, but, ah well.**

 **Still! The episode** ** _did_** **happen, and Oliver's comment of, "Guys like us, we don't get the girl." still happened, too.**

 **ALSO: I'm going to be combining both 2x08 of Flash and 4x08 of Arrow, because, again, it's a crossover.**

Barry woke up with a start, breathing heavily, entire body covered with sweat and trembling.

Caitlin shifted beside him in the bed they had been sharing, lately, and draped on sleepy arm over his chest. It calmed him down, like her presence always did.

He gently pushed himself away, pulling up into a sitting position so he could bury his face in his hands. Caitlin had told him the phantom pain was going to be a symptom after his terrifying encounter with Zoom, but he hadn't expected it to be this bad.

"B'rry?" Caitlin mumbled, blinking her eyes against her tiredness. He had been having nightmares for the past week and a half, but this was the first time she had woken up. "What's going on? Are you alright?"

He gave her a tired, but hopefully reassuring smile, gently laying back down beside her. "I'm fine, Caitlin, go back to bed."

"No." She said stubbornly, waking up a bit more. "No, you're not fine, you've been waking up from these... whatever they are for way longer then you'll care to admit." Ok. So apparently this _wasn't_ the first time she had woken up. "Why won't you tell me what's wrong?"

"Because there's nothing you can do." Barry whispered. "You're already helping without knowing it."

He slipped out of bed and pulled on jeans and a shirt. She watched him in the darkness. "Where are you going?"

"I just need to do some running, ok?" Barry told her, leaning down to kiss her forehead. "I'll be back in a flash?"

She was asleep almost before she could groan at his terrible joke.

He took off down the road, looking down from time to time to make sure his clothes weren't burning. He had been running a lot, lately, trying to get faster. Because now there was someone in the city faster then him, stronger then him, better then him, and he needed to beat him. Stopping Zoom was his only hope for getting rid of everything haunting him. It was the only way.

He ran until dawn. Then he zipped back to Joe's house, exhausted but wired, and ate 10 of Caitlin's calorie bar's until his stopped swaying.

Caitlin walked out of his room, yawning and pushing back her messy hair. He smiled when he saw her. "Since when do you get up this early?"

"Since you started coming home at dawn." She countered, leaning against the table and pecking his lips. "It's cold in bed after you leave."

He chuckled, nothing but a low rumble, deep in his chest. "I'm _that_ hot."

"I beg to differ." Caitlin smirked teasingly, reaching past him for the cereal. "Let me have breakfast, then we can head to STAR labs, ok? Unless you want to get some most sleep." She searched his face. "You look exhausted."

"No." Barry shook his head, for some reason completely against the idea of getting back into bed. "No, let's go to the Labs. Maybe we can do some more training today."

 **Flash!**

Harry and Caitlin put him on the treadmill. He had a feeling it had something to do with Caitlin's worry that he was going to pass out from fatigue, and that she didn't want him to get blown to smithereens from one of Cisco's drones because of it. Also, it was the best way to gauge how fast he was going.

"You're doing great, Barry!" Caitlin called supportively, turing back to her monitor as Harry leaned against the wall beside her. "He just hit 1375."

Harry frowned. "What's the fastest Barry's run?"

"A little over mach-2 when he ran back in time." Caitlin told him, unable to keep the pride out of her voice.

Harry's frown made her realize how slow 1375 compared to mach-2, which was around 1,552 miles per hour. "That's not good." Harry sighed. He leaned into the com. "That's good, Barry!"

The treadmill slowed to a stop at the same time Barry did, and Harry let out another sigh. "I was never very good at those."

Caitlin couldn't disagree, so she just kept quiet. Barry walked into the Cortex, panting. "I'm not getting fast, am I?"

"Well..." Caitlin started.

"No." Wells said, bluntly. "You're not."

"Alright." Barry nodded, once, firmly. "Let's fix this, right? I mean, I can't beat Zoom at this speed. It felt like I was standing still next to him."

"That's because you practically were." Harry told him, again, very bluntly. "Zoom is at least 3, 4 times as faster then you at this point."

Barry's shoulder slumped. It was time for Caitlin to... intervene. "How could he be so much faster then Barry is?"

"Physiology." Harry shrugged. "Form. Strength. Could be a number of things." Everything that came out of Harry's mouth today was sending Barry further and further into the dumps of no return.

"Attitude." Harry kept going. "Diet."

"Ok, ok, alright." Barry cut him off. Enough was enough. "There's gotta be something we can do about it. So let's just.. figure it out. Fast. Ok?" He reached down to check his phone as it buzzed. "I gotta go, I'm meeting Joe for lunch. See you later."

Caitlin sighed, watching his retreating form. "So, how are we supposed to help Barry?" She asked, not liking the feeling of being clueless. "I'm out of ideas, and we've tried everything that you suggested."

"No." Harry murmured. "Not everything."

 **Flash!**

Cisco _really_ didn't know how to keep a secret. Barry was bad enough at it- only barely managing to avoid telling Patty- but then Cisco went and said Barry's name right in front of her... while Barry was still in Flash garb. Granted.. it had just been after they had almost died.

"I can't believe you're the Flash." Kendra said in awe, looking eagerly around STAR Labs. She turned to Cisco. "And that you work with him!"

"Yeah, well," Cisco laughed nervously. "Let's keep that on DO."

"This is the knife that was used to cut the men at the docks." Barry said distractedly, referencing another CCPD case as he investigated the knife he had taken from their new malefactor. "It's a perfect match."

"So it's the same guy." Joe confirmed.

"Definitely." Barry said. "But these blades- they're old. _Centuries_ old."

"Do you have any idea why this guy would be after you?" Iris asked Kendra. Caitlin noticed that she was wearing a very cute top- she might have to ask her later where she had gotten it.

"No." Kendra murmured. "I've never seen him before in my life."

"Well, he was certainly acting like he knew you." Cisco noted. "Kept calling her 'Priestess Chay-Ara'."

"That's Coptic." Harry spoke up, arms crossed.

"You mean Egyptian?" Caitlin asked, tilting her head to the side.

"That's right."

"Well, I grew up in Wisconsin." Kendra shrugged. "And I've never even left the States, so..."

Barry spoke up again, looking gravely at Kendra. "This guy. He's clearly _very_ dangerous, so I need to at least let us _try_ to protect you."

"I can put a detail on her." Joe offered.

Cisco cut that idea down. "You did see this guy, Joe. No offense, but I don't think a cop is going to be able to protect her."

"No, but we do have a few friends who could lend a hand." Barry reminded him. Caitlin started to smile excitedly. "We're going to need to leave Central City."

"And go where?" Kendra asked, a little cautiously.

"Star City."

 **Flash!**

Post saving Team Arrow, Caitlin, Barry, Cisco, and Kendra all arrived at the new Arrowcave. Caitlin was lost in thought for most of the drive over, ignoring Cisco and Kendra's flirting and other conversations, and thinking instead of the plan she had set up with Harry. They _might_ just have found a way to increase his speed, but the plan would have to be run by the others. Harry had decided (without her personal consent) that he would work to convince Jay to try out the new serum while they were gone. Caitlin hoped it was going well.

Barry was immediately attacked by Felicity. "Barry!" She cried, grabbing him in a hug. She pulled back after only a second and hit him, hard, on the chest. "Why didn't you tell me Zoom broke your back?" Then she hugged him again. "Oh, I'm so glad you're ok."

Barry shot an amused, albeit slightly alarmed, glance at Oliver. "So this is what it's like dating her."

"More bruises from her then Deathstroke." Oliver joked.

Barry grinned. "I guess I'm luckier to have Caitlin then I thought." He winked in her direction.

Caitlin broke off her looking around to glare at him. "Haha." She said. "That's until you find out that _I_ was the one to tell Felicity that Zoom broke your back."

He gave her a mock-betrayed glance. Kendra spoke up for the first time since they had entered. "Wow." She breathed. "STAR Labs is impressive, but this is.."

"This!" Cisco cried suddenly. "Is completely wrong!"

Felicity blinked, affronted. "What?"

"Did you guys even look at the specs I sent over? This is a tragedy." He clapped his hand over his heart, and Caitlin stifled a giggle. "I'm mourning for the death of engineering. Copper wiring! To handle the processing speed from the Palmer Satellite, or your system is going to overload."

Felicity stuttered for a second. "Yeah, but- that hasn't happened. I mean, it hasn't happened since last week- I mean it didn't... it happened yesterday."

Cisco shook his head, obviously disappointed in Team Arrow's life choices. Kendra intervened before he could say something too offensive. "Hi." She introduced, reaching for Felicity's hand.

"I'm Felicity!" The tech whiz introduced herself.

"I'm Kendra Saunders. I'm Cisco's..." She trailed off, and the new couple exchanged a fast, silent conversation.

"She's my uh... new.. beautiful friend. Who kisses me. Occasionally."

Caitlin buried her face in Barry's shoulder, attempting to cover up her snort of laughed, and not quite managing.

"That's nice." Oliver muttered.

"Right, um," Thea jumped in, saving the day. "I'm Thea. This is John Diggle and my brother."

"Oliver Queen." Kendra looking a little bit giddy. They shook hands, and Oliver gave him one of his charming smiles with a hello. Kendra shook her head. "Wow. First I meet the Flash and... now the Green Arrow." She glanced at Cisco. "Do you have any other surprises for me?"

Cisco once again gave his nervous little laugh. "Ha, please, no more surprises."

Once again, a Queen saved what would have been an awkward moment. This time, however, it was Oliver. He turned to Kendra. "Barry said that you need our help. Someone very dangerous is after you."

"Yeah." She agreed. "And I have no idea why."

"What does this guy even look like?" Thea asked.

Barry glanced up. "Uh, hold on." He walked over to a drawing pad that was lying on a table (Caitlin had no idea why it was there), and turned to the first page. In seconds, he had drawn the face of a man, with a scowl and a beard. "Ok." He held it up to the group. "This is him."

"Yeah, see, that's something I would never think of." Diggle sighed, leaning against the wall. Barry laughed.

Felicity grabbed the drawing from him. "Huh, he's kinda rocking that dracula-hot look. Let's see if facial recognition can find a match." She climbed up the stairs, a few members of the combined team trailing after her.

"Since when can you draw?" Caitlin whispered to Barry.

He smirked. "Since now."

Felicity worked her magic for a few seconds on her computer, using Barry's drawing to scan her databases. Her computer beeped, and up popped a photo of a man that looked exactly like the one in Barry's drawing. "That's him." Kendra breathed.

"Yeah, strange. This picture's from 1975..." Felicity told them, tilting her head to the side and smiling.

"That would make him about 80 years old right now." Barry realized, frowning.

"He aged well." Caitlin murmured, making Barry snort.

"Ok, what else can you tell us?" Oliver asked. He was very serious and all business, very unlike the distracted mannerisms of Team Flash.

Kendra shook her head, thinking. "He said we've known each other for ages, but... I've never met him before."

"There must be some kind of a connection." Oliver persisted, obviously not taking Kendra's answer as a final one.

"Not one I can think of. I just moved to Central City 6 months ago."

Oliver narrowed his eyes. "Why did you move there?"

"I- I just felt drawn to the city, I guess." Kendra shrugged. Caitlin felt kind of bad- she was being thrust into this strange, surreal situation, and forced to talk about her life. She seemed a little bit overwhelmed.

"Kendra, there is a reason this guys is after you. _Think_." Oliver pressed, taking a step closer to her.

Cisco, having enough, spoke up. "Look man... we just came out here to hide out for a bit, until we figure things out, so you can just... take it down a notch."

"You came here because you need our help, and this is what my help looks like." Oliver said.

Barry and Caitlin exchanged glances, and the scarlet speedster finally spoke up. "Oliver, I just saved you guys from whatever the heck flock of seagulls was going to do- the least you can do-"

"Barry, none of us have super powers!" Oliver yelled, suddenly, loudly. "You brought Kendra into our world without knowing who she is, or what this dude who is after her is looking for. You made all of us unsafe. So maybe you ask the questions."

"Whoa whoa whoa." Felicity laid a hand on Oliver's tense arm, her presence, as always, a soothing element for him. "We're all friends here, right?" She patted the arm, and Oliver glanced at the ground, attempting to control his temper. "Now why don't we go back to our place and have some drinks and we can... talk."

Barry shrugged. "Cool."

They filed out.

 **Flash! (and Arrow!)**

They all went back to Oliver and Felicity's apartment to get drinks. Felicity pulled out a couple of bottles, Oliver got the glasses, and Caitlin watched from the couch. It was inspiring how well they moved around each other, seamlessly, like a well oiled machine. Barry slung his arm over her shoulders, and they listened to Thea and Cisco's conversation.

"I'm not changing my name." Thea protested. "I like Speedy."

"Are you familiar with my body of work?" Cisco asked regally. "If you are then I'm sure you know that I can come with something _so_ much better then Speedy."

Thea leaned back, smirking. "Why don't you... get a haircut. And then maybe we can talk about it."

"I think you're just upset because my conditioner game is on point." Cisco reached to tug on some of his locks of hair.

Oliver leaned down and pressed a kiss to Felicity's temple, before walking over to pour the drinks. Barry leaned over to Felicity. "The CEO of Palmer Technologies?"

"Yep." Felicity nodded.

"Living with Oliver Queen." Barry shook his head, obviously very happy for her. "It's insane how much life can change in 6 months, huh?"

"Which you would know better then anyone." Felicity reminded him. "Considering that there is another Flash and another Dr. Wells from another... Earth?"

"Uh huh." Barry muttered. "Yeah, no, it's been tripy lately."

Felicity narrowed her eyes, considering. "I wonder what Oliver's doppleganger would look like?" They both looked over her shoulder, watching him fiddle with the alcohol. "Bald. Potbellied."

"Uh huh."

"Agreeable." Felicity grinned, twisting back to her friend as he laughed. "And you and Caitlin are... together?"

"Yeah." He glanced over, sending a fond look in her direction, watching her tease Cisco. "Yes, we are most definitely together."

"Good." Felicity seemed pleased. "You deserve someone amazing." The oven dinged and Felicity gasped. "My pigs in a blanket!" She scampered off toward her kitchen, slipping past Oliver, who was on his own way over to Barry.

"Hey, Ollie, look." Barry murmured. "Look, I'm sorry I laid all of this on you. That wasn't fair."

Oliver let out a sigh. "That's ok." He said, unusually forgiving. "I'm sorry if earlier I was a little.."

"Snippy?" Barry suggested teasingly.

Oliver took it in stride. "I have been called worse." He nodded. "You know, I'm glad you're here- I'm glad you reached out. It shows a real maturity. I know that because I've never been that mature." Barry laughed outright at that, and Oliver patted his shoulder. "I'm always here for you."

"Thank you." Nodding, Barry motioned with his head over to the couches. "I gotta say, this isn't the same Arrow team I'm used to. Or the same Oliver Queen. You seem really..."

"Happy?" Now it was Oliver's turn to finish a sentence. He did so quietly, his eyes wandering over to the love of his life. "I am happy. I finally have everything that I ever wanted. Being with Felicity... has given me a real sense of peace. Something that I haven't had in a long time."

Barry squinted at him for a moment, and then another teasing smile flitted across his face. "Did you tell me that guys like us 'don't get the girl'?"

Grinning, Oliver nodded. "Yes. I was wrong." He walked off, then turned again. "Not like you listened to me, anyway."

Once again, Barry let out a laugh, his eyes taking their turn to find the love of _his_ life. Caitlin smiled right back and him and waved. He grinned.

Oliver walked in front of the couches, and Thea and Cisco's banter fell silent. "I would like to propose a toast." He said, holding up his glass. "I wish it wasn't just the dark times bringing us together."

Before he could say another word, a streak of lighting zipped across the room, and Barry popped into view, now holding Oliver's glass. Caitlin giggled. "But it is friends like you that make dark times worth having." Barry finished dramatically.

Cisco laughed, and Oliver rolled his eyes. "What a guy, steals my drink; steals my words- _as I was saying_." He took back his glass. "It's good to see everyone. Cheers."

They clinked glasses, and Caitlin took a sip of her wine. "Oh, Felicity, this is _really_ good."

"Being a CEO does have it's perks." Felicity chirped, siping her own drink and sighing in satisfaction.

They lounged around the living room, nursing their glasses and talking about their latest meta/magic problems, until Kendra looked to the window and gasped. "Look!" She cried, and everyone turned in time to see the same man who had attacked Cisco and Kendra before smashing through the window.

He landed on his feet, not even minding the glass shards scattered around the floor, and locked eyes with Kendra. "I will always find you, Chay-Ara."

In a Flash, Barry had brought Oliver his bow. He notched an arrow almost faster. "Don't move."

"Then how will I kill you all?" There was a tense pause where nobody breathed. Then he yanked his hands through his jacket, pulling out 4 glinting blades.

Oliver reacted almost as fast, aiming and shooting an arrow as Barry sped into motion. He grabbed the first knife, then the second and third, knocking them to the ground. Barry lunged, fingers outreached, just barely grasping the handle before it hit Caitlin.

He gasped in pain a second later, yet another knife, thrown later, embedded in his shoulder. Caitlin fell to her knees beside him, but he gave her a push, urging her to get to safety.

Their mysterious murderer grabbed Oliver's next two arrows out of the air, spinning them in his fingertips. Felicity grabbed everyone and ushered them behind, staring in horror at her boyfriend and the man's fight.

The man was getting the upper hand, and sent Oliver sprawling on the floor to lie, groaning, beside Barry. The speedster stumbled to his feet, just in time to catch a new knife aimed at his chest. "Yeah, I can do that, too." He murmured.

Oliver was back on his feet, shooting more arrow. The malefactor deflected them with what looked like a iron fan... though that seemed a little weird.

Thea leaped over the couch, aiming her own arrows and shooting. Soon, the strange man was overpowered, and, ignoring Oliver's cry to stop, Thea sent one more arrow, sending him tumbling over the banister and to the hard pavement far below.

"What did you do?" Oliver gasped, staring in horror at his little sister. Caitlin could feel Felicity trembling beside her.

"I ended it." Thea growled, face a mask of rage.

The others slowly got to their feet, and Oliver glared at Barry. "This is why we ask questions!" He yelled, striding angrily over to the banister.

Barry, never one to be left behind, flashed close behind him. They peered over the side. "Wait... where did he go?"

There was no one there.

 **Flash! (and Arrow!)**

After a quick patch up job of Barry's bleeding shoulder, the team fell into trying to figure out who their new foe was. Cisco finally came clean about his powers to Kendra, admitting that she had been the one in his "Bird Vibe".

"In my vibe... you were a bird. With wings." He said gravely.

"Oh, I did _not_ see that one coming!" Felicity groaned.

At that moment, the lights went out. Caitlin blinked in surprise up at the ceiling, but the power outage didn't last long.

When the lights flickered back on, a group of dark clad people were standing stock still in the Arrow Cave. Their leader was a dark haired man with an even darker looking smirk. "Oh, I think there's a lot of things you didn't see coming." He said sinisterly.

"Great, more surprises!" Cisco squeaked. "Who the heck is this?!"

"It's my dad." Thea told him darkly.

Oliver lowered his gun, and the legion of ninjas (or whatever the heck they were) all lowered their weapons simultaneously.

Thea's dad (or Malcolm Merlin, as he was later introduced), told them that their newest villain, Vandal Savage, was an immortal guy, and with his intent on killing Kendra, there was absolutely nothing they could do to save her.

Kendra, weirded out beyond belief, escaped to outside the Arrow Cave, with Cisco tagging along close behind. The rest of the team looked at each other in a muted shock. This was insane.. but at the same time, also kind of made sense.

Later on in the day, it was confirmed. Kendra was kidnapped by another human hawk, who told her that his name was Khufu, and that he was her soulmate. In every life, Vandal Savage killed them, and they were reborn, only to be killed again. In some lives, they found each other. In others, only on of them remember their previous identity.

"This is madness." Caitlin muttered to Barry as they stood around, interrogating a now chained up "Khufu" (who then introduced himself as Carter Hall. Curiouser and Curiouser..).

"Yeah, but at the same time, it kind of all makes sense." Barry said, shaking his head. "In a really weird, nutty way."

They fell quiet, listening to Carter as he went on a slightly annoying tangent about his and Kendra's continued love throughout the ages, and how no one could protect her from Vandal Savage but him.

"Do you know who Vandal Savage is?" Oliver asked, all business.

"In every lifetime he hunts us down." Carter said glumly. "He kills us. He's done it 206 times." _Oh, ouch_. "And I'm not planning on making it 207."

After a few more questions, and the beginnings of a plan, they were interrupted by the dramatic entrance, once again, of Malcolm Merlin.

"Is that the only way this guy knows how to enter a room?!" Barry asked incredulously.

"My associates tell me Savage left Star City a few hours ago." Malcolm told them. "We're not quite sure where. But I assume that after his run in with you, he realized he needed something more powerful to complete his mission. We think he's trying to locate the staff of Horus."

Only Carter seemed familiar with the name. Caitlin glanced to Cisco, thinking maybe with all of his si-fi books he may have come across something like that. His face was blank.

"What is that?" Thea asked.

"It's a relic from our past." Carter said in a deep, dramatic tone. "And ancient and powerful weapon. If Savage gets his hands on it, it's going to be nearly impossible to stop him."

"Since when did our lives suddenly become and Indiana Jones movie?" Cisco muttered, only half joking.

Oliver turned to his tech girl. "Felicity. Think you can find it?"

"Yeah." She smiled. "Probably at some museum or something. I'll... work my magic." With that, she clacked up the steps to get to work.

"We're running out of time." Carter told them. He locked eyes with Kendra. "You need to emerge now." Nothing. "Come on! What's it gonna take for you to believe me? You saw my wings." He stared deep into her eyes. "I know you know this is true."

Kendra's face was twisted with inner tumult. "Please." Her "soulmate" pleaded. "Just let me show you how."

 **Flash! (And Arrow!)**

Caitlin was sitting in Felicity's spare swivel chair when the heroes called. Barry was still buzzing about their almost-win in the church against Savage ("Even though he has the staff, I think we can do it, guys!"). Oliver simply told them to get to Central City, where Savage was headed.

Felicity gathered the group, loading them into her private jet, because, hey, when you're a CEO of a company, you _totally_ get a private jet.

Once in Central City, the team regrouped at an out of the way house, surrounded by nothing and a field. "Bunch of superheroes in a farmhouse?" Thea closed the door of her car and shouldered her purse. "I feel like I've seen that in a movie before."

"We needed a secure location." Oliver said.

"What's wrong with STAR Labs?" Caitlin asked, joining him as they walked up the crushed rock walkway.

"Well, I mean, absolutely nothing if your forget about the revolving door you guys installed so the bad guys can come and go as they please."

Affronted, Caitlin asked, "Remind me again of what happened to _your_ old lair, or the one before that?"

"Well, lair number 1 was compromised by the police." Felicity put in. Caitlin cocked her head. "Aaaaand... I will stop helping."

Sensing a loosing fight, Oliver changed the subject. "Savage let Barry and I live because he sensed Kendra coming out as Hawkgirl and came after her. He can sense Carter's presence. We don't need to make it easier for him by staying in the city's limits."

"Bet you wished you stayed at you're mother's place now." Diggle muttered over his shoulder to Laurel, who hummed in agreement.

"We need to find a way to neutralize Savage's advantage." Oliver continued, setting his bag down on the table.

Caitlin looked around at the house, dust sparkling in the sunlight coming in through the wide windows. It was a nice place.

Barry and Cisco walked through the front door, and Oliver gave them both looks. "Barry, you're late."

"Sorry, turns out it's not easy finding the inside of nowhere." Barry shrugged, letting go of the trunk he was pulling in.

Cisco pulled out his phone and looked at it sadly. "Yeah, the roaming charges alone here are going to bankrupt me." He grumped.

"We were just discussing on how to get ride of Savage's new found power." Oliver filled him in.

"Yeah his... stick thingy." Felicity nodded.

"Staff of Horus." Carter corrected.

Soon, the nerds in the room (Cisco, Felicity and Caitlin), were all at work using their genius minds to work around the problem at hand. Oliver rolled his eyes, "Well, while the geek squad works-"

"Heard that, honey!"

"In order to get the staff away from Savage, we need to know everything there is to know about him."

"Well, I googled reincarnated nut jobs," Thea offered. "And came up with nothing."

Carter placed his large trunk on the couch. "Well, Kendra and I would be the reincarnated nut jobs. Savage is merely immortal."

"Really?" Laurel deadpanned, looking up from her computer with a incredulous expression.

"Welcome to the new normal." Thea muttered.

They broke up into teams, Carter walking off to train Kendra, Thea and Laurel searching police records, and Diggle contacting Argus. Not really having a job, Barry joined the "geek squad" and attempted to help them with their goal.

 **Flash! (And Arrow!)**

Things happened so fast that Barry could barely keep up. They had gotten to the church meeting place that Vandal Savage had instructed, bringing Kendra and Carter with them. A fight had ensued, ending with the hawkmates both dead, Savage more powerful then ever, still in possession of the Staff of Horus.

And he had erased existence with a blast wave the killed _everything_ in it's path. Barry had seen Oliver crumpled to dust, and he had ran.

He ran so fast he went back in time, to the past afternoon. Unable to think of a reality that would be any worse then the one he had just experienced (because the changed reality was _always_ worse), he went with it, helping Cisco change the gloves he created so that they worked this time, getting his friend to train Kendra instead of Carter. He even helped Oliver with his love life, a choice he wasn't quite sure was the right one, now.

It had worked. It had actually, legitimately worked. Savage was gone, a piled of dust on the floor, and they had all grouped together to watch Kendra and Carter sprout wings and fly into the sky, soul mates once again.

Laurel took the depressed Cisco out for drinks, hoping to cheer him up a bit before team Arrow went home, and Barry and Caitlin straggled tiredly back to Joe's house.

There, unable to keep secrets from her for long, Barry spilled everything that had happened in both timelines.

"Wow." Caitlin sighed, shaking her head. "You certainly get yourself into the worst situations, don't you?"

He frowned at her. "Ha ha."

Giggling, Caitlin used his chest as a pillow, squeezing closer to him. "Hey, so I was thinking."

"Yeah?"

"You know how Kendra and Carter are, um, _soulmates_?"

"Yeah."

"Do you think soulmates really exist?" Her brown eyes popped into view as she moved her head so she could face him. "Because, if they did, I think you'd be my soulmate."

Barry smiled, grabbing her and hugging her tightly. "I think you're my soulmate, too."

"Good."

And that was really all that needed to be said.

 **Author's Note: Alright, so I'm kind of thinking that this was** ** _awful_** **. Sorry if it was really rushed in some spots and not others, and not very Snowbarry filled... this was a tough episode to write.**

 **BUT! It was long. So it'll hold you guys over for awhile... hopefully.**


	9. 2x09

**Author's Note: Merry Christmas! Not.**

 **Anyone get that? You know, that was Harry's new faze in season 3... and this is a Christmas episode... no? Nothing? Ah well, I tried.**

It was almost Christmas. Caitlin normally hated Christmas. Her father had passed away around this time, and for the longest part of her life, it held only painful memories.

And then Barry came along, and turned those unhappy memories into the happiest of her life. They had had their first real, full on kiss on Christmas. They had traded stories and cups of eggnog, and now when Caitlin thought of the holiday, she thought of Barry. It was time to repay that favor.

She had his favorite coffee from Jitter's in her hand, and her coziest Christmas sweater on as she crept up the steps to Barry's lab at the CCPD. He had been spending more time there, lately. It was hard for him to be in STAR Labs with Harry around, with what had happened to him with Zoom, with his experience with her kidnapping.

Taking a deep breath, Caitlin burst through the door to Barry's lab. "Surprise!" She cried, beaming at him.

He jumped and looked up, startled but grinning when he saw her. "Cait!"

"Merry Christmas." She said, trotting over and passing him the coffee. "I thought I would come say hi. Hope it's not a bad time."

"Every time with you is a good time." Barry said.

"Corny today, I see?" Caitlin teased, pecking his lips.

He pulled her in for a longer kiss and nuzzled their noses together. "Naw. Just happy. I guess the Christmas spirit is getting to me."

Caitlin smiled. "That's always good to hear." She whispered.

They both glanced up as Iris came into the room. Caitlin waved at her friend, then noticed her face. "Hey Iris... what's wrong?"

"Can I, um, speak to Barry for a moment?" Iris chocked out, pleading with Caitlin with her eyes.

Looking concerned, Caitlin nodded. "Yeah, yeah, ok." She gave Barry one last kiss and hurried toward the door before he could argue. "Text me later, ok? I see you at STAR Labs."

With one last glance over she shoulder, Caitlin exited the room and left the two siblings alone. She walked down the steps and out of the CCPD, waving at Joe as she passed him in the doorway. "Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas." Caitlin repeated in response, walking out into the icy air. She tilted her head back and smiled, soft white flakes fluttering down from the heavens. "Look at that snow..."

After an awkward brainstorming session with Jay about what to do with the many breaches, where he not-so-covertly mentioned that "Barry's not the only I want to keep safe", Caitlin returned to her desk. She resisted the urge to bang her head forcefully on the table when she heard Cisco inviting Jay over to the West's Christmas party. _Nooooo... why..._

There wasn't much going on at STAR Labs at the moment, and Caitlin stared, bored, out the window, regretting leaving the CCPD. She had had the plan to at least drink her _coffee_ with Barry, if not spend the morning with him. Sighing, she glanced at the company she currently had. No one but Jay, who was staring openly in her direction. She gave him an awkward smile and turned hurriedly back to her computer. What did he not get about the fact that she had a boyfriend and _wasn't into him_?!

Cisco picked up his phone as it started to ring, and placed Barry on speaker phone. "Heeeey dude. What's up?"

"Mardin, Jesse and Snart all broke out of prison this afternoon." Barry said through the phone. "There's no trace of them, and the only proof we've got is security footage. Can you guys-"

"Already looking." Both Cisco and Caitlin called. Caitlin jumped out of her chair and ran over to Cisco's desk.

"Try the-"

"Yep, yep, on it." Cisco typed furiously, using the STAR Labs cameras to search for unusually cold frequencies. "Nothing... yet. I'll keep up the search, and we'll know the second something happens. Or," He grinned. "Sooner, with these new powers."

Barry joined them back at STAR Labs a few minutes later, shaking his head and panting a little from his run.

Cisco laughed. "Oh ho ho, yeah, Weather Wizard, Captain Cold, the Trickster..." He trailed off, leaving the pictures of the three malefactors up on the screen.

"There's three of them and one of you." Caitlin frowned. "I do not like those odds."

"And I'm going to be no help without my speed, so," Jay put in (unhelpfully).

"Oh!" Cisco tapped the top of his head in excitement. "Lightbulb. Up here. I have an idea. Most weather phenomena are marked- no pun intended- by a fluctuation in the atmosphere. We could just map out those fluctuations-"

"To pin point his location." Barry muttered, finishing the sentence.

"Right. It would just be the matter of-"

"Removing all the electricity from his immediate surroundings." Barry, once again, picked up the slack. Harry turned around, giving them both weird looks.

"Pinpoint-"

"One spot-"

"Like a lighting rod does, but instead of a lighting rod, we could use-"

"A wand?"

Now Cisco gave Barry a strange look, too. Caitlin frowned. Jay exchanged glances with Harry. "Have we already had this conversation?"

Barry shrugged, obviously fighting an amused smile. "...Kind of?"

"What does that mean?" Harry asked, face stone cold.

"Uh...Alright, so the last time Mardin attacked, he generated a tidal wave that destroyed all of Central City." Barry said.

Harry blinked. "So why are you not all sleeping with the fishes?"

Barry started to speak, but Cisco cut him off with a raised eyebrow. "Earth 2 has the Godfather?"

"Every Earth has the Godfather." Harry shot back.

"Well, I ran back through time," Barry cut in. "I went one day, into the past, and I got a do-over. And I stopped Mardin, before he could hurt anyone."

"You shouldn't have messed with the timeline." Harry said gravely, shaking his head.

Barry let out a sigh. "That's... what the other Wells said," He abruptly changed the subject, turning back to Cisco. "So, the good news is, in that timeline, you created the wand and it worked. So you just gotta do it again. For the first time."

Cisco looked minor-ly overwhelmed. "Hmph. No pressure."

"I can give you a hand." Jay offered.

"Best of both worlds." Cisco shrugged. They high-fived as they left the room.

Harry walked to follow them, glaring at the floor. Barry frowned. "You good, Harry?"

"Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?" With that, he walked out of the room.

"Holiday blues?" Caitlin suggested, noticing Barry's slightly offended look. "Can't be easy knowing Zoom still has his daughter."

"Yeah." Barry's face scrunched into a frown. "Hey, you're coming to Joe's tonight, right?"

"Of course!" Caitlin grinned. Then her face slumped a bit. "And so's Jay. Cisco... Cisco invited him. Which, obviously that's the right thing to do, I just... you know how he is. He doesn't seem to get the hint that we're together."

Barry frowned, reaching out to rub the front of her shoulders and turn her to face him. "Do you want me to talk to him? Tell him to leave you alone?"

"No!" Caitlin cried. "No, no, that would be- no. It's fine, I can deal with it."

"Okay..." Barry still looked unconvinced, but Caitlin gave him the most confident smile she could.

Though... her smile was not very confident, and neither of them were convinced by the time Barry flashed off to head back to work.

 **Flash!**

"So, Francine had another kid?" Caitlin was still a little confused on the details and Barry led her into the West's house for a brief break from their search for Mardin. "And Joe didn't know about it?"

"Yeah, and Iris found out when she was doing research on Francine, and only just told Joe now." Barry sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "But I think it'll be fine. They seemed ok. Shaken, hurt, but ok."

"That's good-" Caitlin froze as her eyes landed on a man sitting in the corner, holding a cup of cocoa.

"Ho ho ho." Leonard Snart murmured. He took a casual sip out of the mug, watching as Caitlin and Barry stared at him in shock. "Hmph. Cocoa isn't cocoa without the mini marshmallows, and you're out. I checked."

In the next second, Barry had flashed across the room and Snart's back crashed into the rim of the fireplace. "Are you out of your mind?!" Barry bellowed. "Breaking into my home-"

"Careful." Snart cautioned, not looking all that concerned, considering Barry's murderous expression. "Upgrade to the cold gun. If I release my grip from the handle the core will go critical. You might make it." His eyes flicked to Caitlin. "Miss Snow, here, won't."

Slowly, Barry let go of Snart's jacket. Once again, the crook looked to Caitlin. "Nice to see you again, doctor."

Caitlin came around the side of the couch to stand closer to Barry, glaring Snart down. "Still messing with our lives, I see. I thought you'd have learned your lesson by now."

"Didn't Barry tell you? I had a rough childhood."

"Everyone in this room had a rough childhood." Caitlin snapped, her usual compassion for humanity leaving her. "Get over it."

"Why are you here, Snart?" Barry asked dangerously.

"I got the noel sprit, and wanted to give you a gift." Snart smirked with a shrug. Barry and Caitlin exchanged suspicious glances. "Mardin broke Jesse and me out to kill you." Snart said. "Jesse's on board, of course, he's shaking with excitement. Me, I'm gonna pass..."

"Since when do you have a conscience?" Caitlin snapped, folding her arms.

"Mardin wants revenge, Jesse wants chaos. I'm just not... invested like they are." Snart shrugged once more, pushing himself from his leaned position against the fireplace.

"You mean there's no money in it for you."

"There's never much for non-profit work." Snart shot back.

Barry wasn't looking convinced, "If you're not in with them then tell me where they are."

"Eh." Snart took a few steps foreword, getting in Barry's face a little. "I'm gonna be more secret santa. Besides... you and your friends love to solve a good mystery."

With that, he twisted past Barry and walked toward the door. Barry's face creased with anger. "You are full of it, Snart. I think, my friends I save your sister's life, and you just can't stand owing me a favor. I hate to break it to you, but that, that right there is called _honor_."

Snart turned slowly. "Go on, make your pitch. I can see you're dying to."

"Help me stop them." Barry murmured, his face dead serious.

Snart only smirked. "Sorry. I'm not interested in being a hero."

"You're doing a pretty lousy job of being a villain this week." Barry said, laughing shortly.

"Merry Christmas, Barry." Snart whispered, and with that, he stepped out the door and into the cold.

 **Flash!**

Barry and Caitlin arrived back at STAR Labs in time to catch a video broadcasted across the television network. The Trickster's hideous face popped into view, grinning. "Flashy the red nosed speedster, had a very shiny suit..." He sang maniacally.

Cisco pulled out the broadcast on a bigger screen, and joined the others in front of the desk to watch what the Trickster had to say. "And if you ever saw him," He continued singing, "You might even want to puke." The Trickster mocked gagged, winking at the camera. "Merry Christmas, kiddywinks. I'm baaaack..."

"You know, the holidays can be a time for gentle reflection on your past. Our ups and downs, our.. triumphs and heartaches. But don't forget, it can also be a time for disemboweling our enemies."

"We don't have a Trickster on Earth 2." Jay muttered.

"He's one of a kind." Caitlin deadpanned.

"No, my stocking won't be fully stuffed until it's _filled to the brim with bloody flash parts_." Jesse hissed. Then he grinned again. Barry and Caitlin exchanged glances. "What'a you say, speed freak. You wanna roast chestnuts?" The screen blinked dark again.

Barry walked foreword, remarkable calm, considering the threat. "Are there any clues to wear he is from the video?"

"None that I can see." Cisco frowned, taking a seat and pulling the video pack up.

Jay leaned closer and inspected the paused video. "Guys, there's a reflection of something..."

Cisco blew up the photo, and all of them stared in confusing at what looked like a teddy bear. "What is that?" Barry asked.

"Not sure." Caitlin leaned foreword.

"That's Mr. Jiggle Wiggle."

Everyone turned to Harry, who's face was completely blank. "It's a doll. A stuffed children's toy- I gave one to my daughter when she was six."

"Mr. Jiggle Wiggle is manufactured by Okamura Toys..." Cisco muttered, back to typing. "Yahtzee! They once had an old shipping facility that shut down four years ago. It's been abandoned every since- what if the Weather Wizards there? The wand's not finished."

"Well." Barry said, a steely look that Caitlin didn't like _at all_ crossing his face. "The Trickster is."

 **Flash!**

Instead of finding the Tricksters... Barry found Patty. He got back to STAR Labs with a sorrowful look and slumped shoulders and immediately told Caitlin everything that Patty had told him.

"Are you sure she _wanted_ you to tell people, Barry?" Caitlin asked gently, a little uncomfortable about learning the life story of a girl she didn't even know.

"It's you." Barry protested, confused. "And it's not like _you'll_ ever tell anyone." He sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I just don't know what I can do to make her feel better."

"Well," Caitlin smiled. "It's been my experience that just being around you can be a big help." He kissed her after that, smile pressed to her lips.

Luckily for them, Cisco finished the Weather Wand in time for the next showdown between Flash and his enemies. Cisco got a ping on his computer only three hours after Barry got back from the old warehouse. "It's definitely Mardin." He confirmed grimly. "Atmospheric pressure just dropped 200 hecto-pascals."

"Where?"

"Central City Square." Cisco said.

"The tree lighting ceremony." Caitlin realized, stomach dropping.

"There's thousands of people there." Barry muttered, eyes widening. He didn't waste any more time, grabbing the wand off of it's stand and flashing out.

Barry found Madin right where he thought he'd be. Mardin actually smiled at the sight of the speedster. "Oh. Glad to see you. Maybe you can help me."

"Help you get back to a jail cell?" Barry asked, loosely grasping the wand. "Yeah, I'd love to-"

"No, no!" Mardin shook his head, still grinning. "See, I'm trying to decide if I should kill everyone down there with a deadly hailstorm or- to look trickier- with acid rain. What do you think?"

Barry rolled his eyes, mock considering. "Oh, let me think, uh- How about neither?" He held up the wand. "You see this here? Guess what-"

Before he could finish, Mardin free fell off of the building. Barry rushed to the edge, and his eyes went wide. "Um... guys? He's flying."

"He can fly?!" Caitlin squeaked. "Since when can he fly?"

Cisco shrugged, like it was completely understandable. "Well, he's using his powers to alter the air pressure around him to create pockets of updraft that-"

"No." Harry interrupted, eyes on the screen. "He can fly."

"Barry!" Jay yelled into the mic. "Get him!"

Barry flashed off, zipping through the crowded streets as everyone moved in slow motion around him. He kept his eyes on Mardin's dark form, still zooming swiftly through the air. He looked over his shoulder, spotted Barry, and increased his speed.

Using a desperate attempt at a gain, Barry leapt unto the rotters of a passing helicopter and moved even faster, raising the wand as he went. He came to a sudden stop in the middle of a crowd, people staggering out of his way as he blasted Mardin with the wand.

Mardin fell to the ground, powers momentarily depleted, groaning. Barry stalked foreword as screaming people ran away. "You didn't really think I'd let you hurt all of these people, did you?" He asked, feeling a little bit triumphant.

Mardin crawled to his feet. "No, course not." He said. "But... I bet you're gonna let me hurt you."

Barry blanched, and a small wrapped package came rolling foreword, gently bumping into his boot. He slowly raised his head.

There sat the Trickster, in full Santa regalia, a pile of similar presents loading a bag beside him. "Feliz Navidad!" He cackled. "Time for a real war on Christmas."

"What is this?" Barry asked warily.

"That," The Weather Wizard responded, almost pleasantly. "Is a box with a bomb in it."

"Yep!" Jesse agreed, swinging his legs up so they could cross together as he sucked on his candy cane. "I've handed out about a hundred of them today. Oh... it feels so good to give."

Barry's heart sank, and his gaze flicked back to Mardin as the malefactor took up the story. "You see, there are about a hundred random children who had each taken home a box- just like that one, and are shoving it under their Christmas tree. There's no way for you to get to all of them, even if you knew where to look."

Feeling sick, Barry waited for the catch to be revealed. One hundred innocent children- possible more- who were all going to die if he didn't do what Mardin and Jesse wanted. "Please. Don't do this." He begged.

Mardin looked honestly shocked. "Me? Kill a hundred families? No... That's up to you. I'm happy just to take your life. So." He smiled again, though his eyes were starting to get dark. Dangerous. "This is how it's gonna be. You are going to stand there. _And let me end you_. Very publicly, and very painfully. I'll let everybody live! But. If I see even a little... _flicker_ of electricity on you. Casket makers, in this town, are going to have a _very. Merry. Christmas_." Mardin stepped back a little, waiting for the answer that he already knew he would get. "So, Flash. What's it gonna be?"

In his chair, Jesse leaned foreword excitedly as Barry slowly handed the wand over to Mardin. In the Cortex, Caitlin was ridged in her seat, Cisco sending her nervous glances on her right, Jay with clenched fists on her left. Barry had to have a plan... right?

Before that plan could come into action, Barry was hit backward by a sharp ice ball, sent by Mardin. Even through the coms, they could hear the Trickster's manacle laughter. She went cold. "They're going to kill Barry!"

"Unless we find those bombs. Cisco-"

"Jay, there's no way." Cisco breathed hopelessly.

"There is a way." Harry disagreed, crossing his arms over his chest, relaxed.

"To find a hundred randomly placed bombs?!" Cisco yelled.

"We don't have to find a hundred." Harry said, stalking over to the desks and staring Cisco down. "We just have to find one, and then we get rid of them all."

"How?" Caitlin asked, not willing to be hopeful just yet.

"A breach." Jay realized.

Harry nodded. "We sent Grodd away and we can do the same to these bombs. Do you have a drone in your workshop?" Cisco nodded. "Does it fly?" Another nod. "Good. I'm taking it. And you're not getting it back."

"I'll get the van." Cisco offered, lunging out of his chair.

Caitlin, left in the Cortex, could only watch with a thudding heart as Barry's vitals rapidly rose and fell. She leaned foreword, toward the com. "It's alright." She whispered. "You're going to be ok, right? Cisco, Jay and Harry have gone to get the bombs. It's going to be ok. I'm here."

She kept up like that, Barry in too much pain to respond, but taking strength from her whispers.

10 painful minutes later, Cisco was yelling into his phone. "Barry! The bombs are gone!"

Barry was on his feet in a second, body aching as he flashed around, tying up the Trickster and blasting Mardin with his weather wand.

Then he was off again, flashing back to STAR Labs, and back to an admittedly frantic Caitlin.

It was only once he fell into her arms (quite literally) that her heart rate slowed down. Only she and Barry's wobbly, aching legs was left supporting him, but Caitlin didn't care, pulling him to her so hard it almost hurt. Her arms wrapped around his back, fingers grasping the red leather like she would never let go.

Once Barry's breathing straightened out to something that resembled a normal inhale-exhale, Caitlin pulled herself back a little. "I thought I was going to lose you." She whispered, tears welling up in her eyes again.

Barry reached up and slowly pulled off his cowl, dried blood making it stick to his face. "I thought I was going to lose me, too." He smiled a little, trying to make the situation a little less heavy. Caitlin croaked out a laugh and shoved him over to her lab for a checkup.

After she had wrapped up his torso, which was covered in splintered bruises and blood, Barry pulled her to lie in his arms, down on the bed. Caitlin sighed in contentment and snuggled into his chest, letting him wrap around her like a human blanket. "I love you." She murmured in his ear.

"I love you more." Barry responded, hugging her tighter.

Caitlin smiled deviously, even though he couldn't see it. "More then your speed?"

With an affronted gasp, Barry pulled back enough to see her face. His eyes were dark, concerned...

Until he saw she was laughing.

He humphed, and dragged her grumpily back into his chest. "I don't know, after what you just pulled." He teased, not meaning a word of it. Caitlin crawled up his chest a little, and kissed him. He tasted like blood and sweat, but also _Barry_ , and that was all she needed.

Jay and Cisco took that opportunity to walk in. Cisco, unfortunately used to this by now, only sighed and coughed. Loudly. Caitlin gave him an annoyed look. "What?"

"There are people in the room who do _not_ need to see you two kissing." He groaned.

Jay seemed to second the motion, his eyes going angry, like they had when he walked in on them kissing after Barry went blind. He turned away, making himself useful elsewhere.

Barry sat up with a groan as Joe walked into the room. The cop turned to Caitlin first, but she was already ready with an answer, "Nothing a little speed-healing can't fix."

"Good." Joe nodded. "Couldn't have Barry all bruised for our Christmas party."

"Right!" Caitlin cried. "It's Christmas!"

Barry snickered, and elbowed her. "What, forget to get me a present?"

Caitlin rolled her eyes. "I'm a girl. Of course not."

"Shall we?" Barry offered her his hand. She interwind their fingers attempted to stay as close as possible to him as they walked to the elevator.

They took her car to the Wests' house, Barry exhausted and still too sore to run. Caitlin smiled as she parked, seeing the festive lights and decorated tree sparkling inside.

"Remember last year?" She whispered, the two of them taking a moment alone with each other before going inside. "Joe almost caught us kissing in the kitchen."

"That was nice." Barry remembered, nodding. She gave him an odd look. "The kissing, not the almost getting caught."

They walked inside still holding hands, and Barry leaned down to kiss her. Joe broke them apart with cough. "Time for that later, you two." He said, shaking his head fondly. "But right now it's time for you to help me pick out some music."

"No Mariah Carry- please." Caitlin begged, grinning. "Put on Harry Connick Jr. or something."

Joe trundled off to go find a CD that he was convinced he had somewhere, and Caitlin took of her coat, draping it familiarly along the rack next to the door. Barry smiled at her. "Presents now or later?"

"Want to do now?" Caitlin asked, digging in her deep coat pocket for the package she knew was in there. "No one's here."

"I don't know how you could top last year's gift." Barry said, smirking as he remembered the flash tie and vial of extremely potent alcohol inside.

"I was thinking the same thing." Caitlin admitted, tucking her legs underneath her as she sat down on the couch. She glanced at the fireplace, remembering earlier that day. "I wonder what happened to Snart?"

An angry look crossed Barry's face. "Don't know and don't care. I hate that guy."

"I know." Caitlin told him. She handed him his package. "Then let's forget about him, and you open up your gift."

Barry carefully pulled of the wrapping paper, and inspected what was inside curiously. On the front cover, a picture of the two of them from last Christmas poked out from soft velvet surroundings. Barry opened up the first page.

Pictures covered the entire surface. Pictures of the two of them, but also some of Team Flash. Cisco dominated one in an epic selfie with his cardboard cutout, Iris and Caitlin had there arms around each other in another, Joe's picture was being photo bombed by none other then _Harry-_

Tears welled up in Barry's eyes for a moment, looking for the memories of the last year. "Caitlin- this is- this is- _beautiful_."

She smiled, pleased with herself. "I'm glad you like it."

"It's perfect." Barry breathed, wrapped her up in a hug. "I love you so much." He laughed, and handed her his gift. "Why do I let you go first? Makes my gift seem lame."

Giggling, Caitlin tore off the wrapping paper on her own gift. There were two parts to it, one package on top, and one of the bottom. Inside the first were two soft articles of clothing.

"Oh my gosh!" Caitlin burst into peals of laughter. "You got me Flash mittens!"

"And a hat." Barry grinned, laughing with her. He tugged the soft hat unto her curls, adjusting it so the Flash symbol shone in the front.

Caitlin pulled on the fleecy red mittens and giggled again. "Thank you Barry."

"There's more." He pushed the second package toward her, and, sending him a suspicious look, Caitlin took it.

This one was smaller, more boxy in shape, and harder to the touch. Caitlin shook it curiously, heart starting to pound. If it was a ring... he would be on one knee right now, right? Anyway, it was way too early...

She opened the box.

A small, heart shaped locket, nestled it tissue, lay inside. Caitlin felt in part relieved and disappointed, but she pushed those emotions aside and picked up the delicate chain. "Barry.. it's so beautiful."

"Open it up." Barry urged, motioning at the locket.

Slowly, carefully, Caitlin unhooked the small heart shaped locket and peeked inside. There were two pictures. The one on the right was of them, arms around each other, Barry's lips pressed to her temple, Caitlin grinning widely at Cisco, who had taken the picture. On the other side was the whole of Team Flash, a "selfie" Barry had speed taken to replace the one with Dr. Wells in it.

Caitlin choked up. "I love it." She whispered.

"Year of pictures, huh?" Barry said, reaching over to hook the necklace for her. "It looks beautiful."

"I'll wear it forever." Caitlin promised. "And the hat and mittens."

Laughing, Barry yanked her down so she was lying on top of him and kissed her. Caitlin tangled her fingers into his hair and sighed happily.

They were just finishing up with their impromptu make-out session when Iris and Cisco walked in. The two of them were positively beaming at each other, Cisco sporting a brand new bowtie that had 4 inconspicuous letters on it, ' _V I B E',_ and Iris holding what looked to be a new purse. Caitlin and Barry grinned at each other. "Merry Christmas, guys!" Barry called.

"Good, you're here." Joe came back out the kitchen, the music turning on on cue with his entrance (it wasn't Harry Connick Jr.). "I got something for all of you!" He held out a small wrapped package.

Iris, who was closest, grabbed it with a smile and Barry scooted over to make more room on the couch so she could sit. Cisco perched on the arm of the chair, and Iris opened the box.

"Joe, it's perfect!" Caitlin squealed, watching the light glimmer off the metal lighting bolt as Iris held it in the air.

Cisco grinned. "Best. Christmas inside joke. Ever." At Iris' point look, he amended his statement. "Not counting Iris' gift."

Iris bounded over to the tree and located a mostly-empty spot in the heavy decorations. She hung the ornament triumphantly, and grinned at her dad. "Thanks."

"You're very welcome." Nodded Joe, looking pleased with his choice. "Now, I've got mistletoe to hang up, and eggnog to drink. Let's get to it!"

He passed the sprig of mistletoe over to Caitlin, who moved over to hand it where it was usually located. There was a knock at the door, and Cisco hurried over to open it up.

"Jay!" He cried happily, letting the tall man inside, and Caitlin sighed. Then she steeled herself. Even Jay wasn't going to get her Christmas spirit down.

Caitlin leapt a few times, short frame stretching for the high arch of the door as she attempted to hang the mistletoe. Barry broke off from his greeting conversation with Jay and smiled. "Hang on a second."

He crossed the room in a few strides, and stretched up to easily pin the mistletoe up. "Even with those heels, you're still too short, Dr. Snow."

She swatted his arm, then pointed upward. "Mistletoe.."

He smirked, and leaned closer. "I noticed." He gave her a gentle kiss, grabbing on to her hand so she could give it a squeeze.

Joe handed out cups of way-too-strong eggnog, which Cisco eagerly (and loudly) slurped. Jay was new to Grandma Ester's brew, and coughed after the first sip. "What _is_ this stuff?"

"Christmas in a cup." Joe told him sagely, taking a sip of his own mug. He spluttered as well. "Whew! It's extra strong this year."

Laughing, Barry and Caitlin stepped back into the living room and joined their friends.

 **Flash!**

After Wally made an unexpected appearance at the Wests' house, the party died down a little bit. Cisco perched on the arm of Iris' chair, sitting almost protectively over her, keeping a smile on her face as she talked to Wally. Joe looked shell shocked, staring at his son and shaking his head.

By the time the clock hit 9, a slightly inebriated Jay excused himself home. Caitlin let Barry stretch across the couch and tuck his head into her lap, his tired body wanting to shut down much earlier then last year. Cisco thought that he should leave, too, but Iris gave him a look and he stayed by her side.

Joe and Wally moved to the kitchen to get to know each other a little more, talking in hushed voices as they went. Caitlin found Barry's head resting more and more in her lap, and when she looked down next, he was asleep.

"He ok?" Cisco asked, jutting his chin at his friend.

"Yeah, I think so." Caitlin said softly, running her fingers through Barry's hair. "He just needs time to heal, and you know how he is. When there's a meta around, he runs himself raw trying to make sure they don't hurt anyone else. It's been a long day."

"That it has." Iris sighed heavily, scooting over to give Cisco room. He slid down the arm of the chair until they were squished together in it, and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

Caitlin sighed contentedly, letting the warmth of Barry's body seep of her legs. She felt nicely drowsy, and could probably fall asleep right here, quite happily.

Iris curled up in her chair, and shut her eyes, and Caitlin followed her lead. When Joe and Wally came back into the room, the former going to take the latter home, they were greeted by the sight of four sleeping young adults, worn out from life, but taking comfort in each other and Christmas.

 **Author's Note: Aw, I liked that one a lot :) The Christmas ones are the best.**

 **Sooooo... I need to know: What would you guys think about me making Iris and Cisco an item? I just feel so bad for both of them... they don't have significant others, and also, since I'm not _really_ going to do season 3, Gypsy won't be a problem...**

 **Tell me what you think!**


	10. 2x10

**Author's Note: I originally thought this story would be uninspired (even wrote it in the AN, before I deleted it and wrote this XD), but then I realized that I could have some fun. Also, cool fact: One of the scenes in this ep is where I got my story photo, so that is pretty exciting!**

 **Enter the Turtle!**

 _Barry flashed toward a lone figure sitting at a restaurant. As he came to a lighting-induced stop, he looked down at his hands. "Gah!" He cried, abruptly dropping the roses he was holding and stomping furiously on them._

 _Caitlin bolted up from her chair, realized there wasn't any immediate danger, and burst into a fit of giggles. Barry shook his head. "I had no idea roses were so... flammable." He winced. "Sorry, those were for you."_

 _Still laughing, Caitlin gave him a hug. "Hey, it's the thought that counts right?" She smirked devilishly. "And the entertainment."_

 _"You know," Barry hummed, abruptly changing the subject. "For a long time, I thought I was really unlucky."_

 _"And now?"_

 _"Now... it's like I've been struck by lighting twice."_

 _Before Caitlin could respond to that cheesy, but sweet, declaration, a familiar figure in black swirled up to the sidewalk. Barry was unable to even move and Caitlin was dragged away, screaming, by none other then the monster that haunted his nightmares._

 _Zoom._

 _Barry zipped off, following the blue lighting that trailed like a tail after Zoom. They came to a stop on top of a nearby building, Caitlin's broken screams echoing into the empty air as Zoom held her over the side by her neck._

 _"Flaaaaaash..." Zoom growled. "Everything you have.. will be mine..."_

 _He dropped Caitlin._

Barry jolted awake in bed, jumping up to a sitting position as his mind adjusted to the fact that it was a dream, _it was a dream_.

Beside him, Caitlin shifted more on her side, on hand coming out to unconsciously wrap around his elbow. ( **A.N: Just want to take a quick break and add something here. I _do not_ believe in two people sleeping in the same bed before they are married, and usually those morals carry into the story I'm writing. However, for the purpose of this story, and taking into regard the fact that Barry obviously doesn't share those morals, they are sleeping in the same bed. Just wanted to make that all clear.** ) 

Barry's heart rate simmered down at her touch, and he sank back onto his pillows, still drenched in sweat. Caitlin blinked open a bleary eye. "I don't know what time it is, but it is _much_ to early for you to be up." She mumbled, still not quite "up" herself. "Are you going to tell me what's up with you, or should I go back to sleep?"

"Go back to sleep." Barry instructed, dropping a kiss to her hair as he snuggled back down beside her.

"I'd rather you tell me what your nightmare was about." Caitlin mumbled, draping one drowsy arm over his waist and sighing into his chest and she fought her heavy eyelids for a few more moments.

"Tomorrow." Barry promised.

But when Caitlin woke up the next morning, Barry was no where to be found.

 **Flash!**

"I just don't get it Iris." Caitlin sighed into her cup of coffee as she and her female friend waited for something at least minorly interesting to happen as STAR Labs. "One second he's fast asleep, then the next he's moaning and jolting awake, looking like he's never been so broken in his life. Then he's gone in the morning, and evades the subject all day."

Iris shrugged in her direction, sipping her own mug of dark liquid. "This is Barry we're talking about. Sometimes he does weird stuff for no explainable reason."

Caitlin sighed again, and gazed into her coffee like it might hold all the answers. "I know. I know! It's just... you know... he usually opens up to me."

"I know, he does." Iris agreed, patting her shoulder. "Which means that he'll open up to you this time, too. Just give him time, 'kay?"

"Yeah. Thanks Iris."

The girls were just finishing up the last of their coffee (and their conversation), when Cisco called a "Sort-of-emergency-but-more-just-important" meeting in the Cortex. Barry was there in seconds, looking unusually haggard, and he took a spot close to Caitlin's side, an arm secured around her shoulders. Jay and Harry came in soon after, and Cisco began their meeting with a flurish

"As some of you may know," He started, "I've been deeply embroiled in a secret one-sided battle with an invisible enemy."

Caitlin rolled her eyes. "Oh, not the Turtle again."

"What?" Barry asked, wrinkling his nose in confusion. "What- who is the Turtle?"

"It's Cisco's white whale."

"Half Whale half Turtle." Jay nodded in understanding.

"Huh?" Cisco shook his head, looking bewildered. "No! You- you see what you're doing Caitlin? Everyone's confused now-"

"Get to it." Harry griped.

"I stumbled upon a few of these cases when I was looking for the Reverse Flash." Cisco clicked a button on his remote and a few articles popped up on the screen beside him.

"A power point presentation." Barry whispered to Caitlin. "Wow." She giggled, but stifled it with a hand.

Cisco ignored them. "Robberies that were seemingly committed at high speed: People holding their beloved items one second, the items were gone the next. Tell me what you see."

He pressed another button, pulling up and starting a video of what looked like a gem show. Without warning, everyone froze, and a hooded figure walked quickly through the crowd. Caitlin wrinkled her nose. "So he can... what? Stop time?"

"No no no no." Cisco shook his head, shushing her. "Look at the time code, it's still running."

Barry took a step foreword, arm falling to his side as he got a closer look. "Yeah, so if he's not stopping time... what's he doing?"

"He's slowing down everything around him." Cisco turned the television off and went for the dramatic finish. "And that... is why we call him the Turtle."

Barry shook his head, trying to focus. "But why have you never mentioned this guy to me before?"

"Oh, I don't know." Cisco said sarcastically. "I think we've been a little distracted, what with Captain Cold and the Weather Wizard and Gorilla Grodd- Do I need to go on?"

"Ok, so if we can catch him and figure out how he uses his powers-" Jay started.

"Maybe we can show Zoom what life is like in the slow land!" Cisco finished triumphantly.

"Where do you even know where to find him?" Wells asked, not so easily convinced.

"Well..." Barry quickly hopped on a computer. "The robberies in the videos all correspond with police reports that were dismissed as lost or missing items instead of thefts."

"The suspects MO being..?" Jay asked.

"Items of immense personal value." Barry said, before his fingers began to type at super-speed, going through reports as fast as possible. In seconds, there was a ping. He flashed off without another word.

Caitlin shook her head in annoyance and leaned over the computer. "Uh... oh, it appears that there is a press conference at the CCPD because the Vandervoot diamonds have just been recovered."

"From Hell's heart I stab at thee." Cisco quoted, pouting.

 **Flash!**

The "West Family Dinner", set up by Joe and Iris to get Wally and Barry to meet and get to know each other a little better, fell flat. Wally didn't show, and Joe left after waiting for a miserable hour, disappointed and hurt. Iris picked up plates, sighing as she went. "Well, West Family 2.0 is getting off to rocky start."

Barry, still slumped on the couch, grunted his acknowledgement. Iris raised an eyebrow. "You've been awfully quiet all evening. The Turtle?"

Barry's frowned. "How do you know about him?" Iris only smiled, and placed the plates in the sink. "No, um... no. I've just had a lot on my mind."

"Caitlin?" Iris asked, Barry looking up, a little bit startled. "We _may_ have met for coffee in the Cortex this morning."

Barry sighed, and rubbed his forehead. Iris took a few steps foreword, pleading with him with her eyes. "She loves you, Barry! And she's hurt that you've been hiding... whatever you've been hiding from her."

"What did _you_ say?" Barry groaned.

"I just said that you love her, and that you'd come around." Iris said. "So now you have to come around, or I'll look like a liar." As Barry fought a smile, Iris came around the table and rested her hand on his shoulder. "You know... she did mention that you'd been having nightmares."

The smile faded off of Barry's face, and he nodded soberly. "About Zoom. Killing her."

"Look." Iris breathed. "I know that you need to protect everyone that you love. But Barry... this is Caitlin. She _wants_ to be there for you. If she didn't, she wouldn't have dated you for this long. Remember the last time you pushed her away? Don't do that again."

Barry nodded, chest feeling tight and heavy as he tried to figure out exactly what he should do. "Ok." He whispered. "Ok."

 **Flash!**

"Hey!" Barry walked into STAR Labs, and toward the 3 clustered around the computer. "You guys got anything?"

"I think we've got our next target for our 30-something meta-human not-a-ninja-turtle." Cisco responded, eyes going wide as he impressed himself with his sentence.

"How long did it take you to come up with that one?" Caitlin asked, amused.

"It's just- came out of my mouth- did you see that? That was amazing!" Cisco shook his head in wonder. Barry nudged him, getting him back on track. "Right, sorry. Central City museum is hosting a black tie event this evening, hosting... the Chrystal Ball."

"It's a famous painting, apparently." Jay informed Barry after he sent a confused look at the techie. "Recently recovered from Archovia."

"The piece is on loan to the museum from the Silverbrook family, Jacob Silverbrook himself said 'The painting's safe return means more to us then all the money in the world', it's like they're _begging_ Turtle to rob it." Cisco finished up.

Barry nodded, impressed. "Yes. This is a plan. So the Turtle will... make his move, and we can be there, waiting to take him down."

Caitlin glanced at the two male scientists beside her. "How do you two like wearing tuxes?"

 **Flash!**

Caitlin walked into STAR Labs at 7:00, and everyone's jaws dropped. She was in a floor length, navy blue gown with a sparkly flower design at the shoulder, and her hair up and away from her face with a few clips, about a million bobby pins, and quite a lot of hairspray. _Worth is for their faces..._

Barry's eyebrows jumped up and he chocked for a moment. "You look... uh... really pretty."

"Thanks." Caitlin grinned, bitting her lower lip happily. As the boys continued to stare, she began to feel a little uncomfortable. "Are we going?" Cisco nudged her shoulder on the way out, winking, and she rolled her eyes. He and Harry were going to be on a stakeout outside, Cisco not having a tux to wear, and Harry not wanting to go to a party.

When they arrived at the event, people were already there, bustling around and looking at the beautiful paintings on display. Cisco informed them through the com that he was in the van with Harry, set with facial recognition ready to alert them if the Turtle came through.

Once inside, Barry gave Caitlin another appraising glance. He opened his mouth...

And Jay stepped in front of him. "Care to dance?" He asked, offering her his arm with a gallant smile.

Caitlin bit her lip, her eyes slipping to Barry. He smiled. "Yeah, you two go ahead, I'm going to look around a bit, scope out where the Turtle is."

Sighing in resignation, Caitlin let Jay sweep her onto the floor. One little dance could hurt, right? And maybe it would help him see that they weren't meant for each other like he seemed to think they were.

It was an unfortunately slow song, and Jay wasted no time in pulling her closer and resting his hand on her hip. Caitlin grimaced, trying to disguise her frown as something else. Jay didn't seem to notice, only moving closer.

By about halfway through the song, his face was centimeters away from her own, and Caitlin was as far away as she could be without being rude or actually physically stepping out of his arms. Just when she thought he might try to _kiss_ her or something, a large, familiar hand rested heavily on Jay's shoulder. Barry. "Mind if I cut in?" He asked, voice pleasant but leaving no room for discussion.

"I-" Jay started.

"Not at all!" Caitlin interrupted hurriedly, all but dropping Jay's hand and latching on to Barry as the larger man huffed away, frustrated. She dropped her forehead to Barry's shoulder. " _Thank you_."

He laughed. "Hey, I've got to be a hero inside and out of the suit, right?"

They danced slowly for a few more quiet moments, enjoying the music and feel of being close together. Barry smiled down at her. "Did I tell you you look absolutely beautiful?"

"I got a really pretty, but that would be the first absolutely beautiful." Caitlin responded, blushing a little. "You look nice, too."

"I think that dress might be a favorite." Barry considered his option.

"Thanks." Caitlin grinned. "You know, guys don't tend to notice clothing."

"When the girl looks like that, they do." Barry said. "Have you _seen_ all the people staring at you tonight?"

Suddenly self conscious, Caitlin glanced over her shoulder. Her eyes caught on somebody not dressed like the rest, and they widened. At the same moment, Cisco spoke up. "We've got eyes on the Turtle."

Seconds after Caitlin could point him out, Barry had taken off (at a normal pace) for somewhere to change. Caitlin met Jay at the staircase and they waiting for Barry to get there.

Then something strange happened. The Turtle looked like he was moving at super speed, but without the flashes in between. One second he was by the wall, the next he was right in front of them, the next closer to the door. Guests began to mutter in confusion, and then one let out a piercing scream. "The painting! It's gone!"

Chaos exploded in the room as the Turtle appeared with a guards gun in his hands, pointing it at the closest person. Caitlin froze, staring down the barrel of the gun. A bystander's eyes widened. "How are you as fast as the Flash?"

"Oh no." Caitlin's eyes flicked up to Barry, now in full Flash regalia, leaning on the railing. "He is much slower."

"It's a trap?" The Turtle frowned. "I'm slow. But not stupid."

The next thing Caitlin knew, she was being thrown painfully to the ground, knocked to the side, and the room went dark as the lit chandelier shattered on the ground. Caitlin twisted where she lay. "Oh-!"

Barry was _under_ the chandelier.

Jay ran up beside her, helping her carefully to her feet, and both of them dragged Barry out into the darkened hallway, now devoid of guests. Cisco met them outside in the van, helping Jay load Barry the rest of the way inside.

Caitlin blew a stray hair out of her face as she quickly checked Barry for damage, but Cisco's suit seemed to have done it's job fairly well in taken the brunt of the glass. Aside from a few already-closing cuts on his face, Barry was relatively unharmed.

Barry woke up before they arrived at STAR Labs, and they helped him to a medical bed inside the Cortex so Caitlin could run a full checkup. She shined a bright light in his eyes and squinted. "Your pupils are normal, your heart rates a... little low, but other then that, no concussive symptoms." She confirmed.

"I really do feel fine." Barry agreed. "What about Turtle?"

"No sign of him." Harry grumbled.

"Or the painting." Jay added, sighing. "He must have gotten away with it in the chaos."

"Yeah, things went a little sideways after the chandelier fell." Cisco said. "We're lucky you moved Caitlin in time."

Caitlin shuddered, imagining the feelings of millions of tiny shards of glass breaking through her skin. Barry reached up to squeeze her hand. "We should head home." He said to the team. "Take a break."

"Wha- Searching for the Turtle is what's important right now." Harry protested.

The others just sent him exhausted glares, and left the building.

 **Flash!**

Caitlin went back to her own apartment for the first time in what felt like awhile, sliding of her shoes and pulling out her hair, which was starting to give her a headache. She was finishing up changing out of her dress when there was knock at the door. "Barry?" She called, walking foreword.

Instead of the green eyes she knew on the other side, a short man in a hoodie shoved open the door. Caitlin shrieked, pushing on the door with all her might, but the Turtle was stronger, and she flew across the room.

She scrambled to her feet as fast as possible and raced for her phone, but the next thing she knew, she was on the floor again, the smashed tech beside her. The Turtle blinked in and out of her vision. He was right in front of her. Then an arm wrapped around her neck, and a gun pressed to her head.

"What do you want from me?" Caitlin asked, trembling.

"The thing most precious to the Flash." The Turtle said, voice smooth and calm, stating the fact like it was obvious. "You."

 **Flash!**

Barry knocked on Caitlin's apartment door and waited for her to call him in. When there was no response, he knocked again. Then a third time.

Starting to get worried, Barry pushed open the door. His heart thudded in his chest when he found it unlocked. He scanned the room. "Caitlin?"

Instead of his girlfriend, he found a phone lying on the ground, front glass cracked as if it had been thrown across the room. When he turned it out and found it still worked, the first thing that popped up was the Flash Alert Signal.

Blood going cold, he scrambled in his pocket or his phone. "No... no no no no." The call rang once, then Cisco's voice came through- Barry cut him off. "Cisco, Cisco! I think the Turtle has Caitlin. J- Just meet me at STAR Labs, alright?!" He flashed off before his friend could respond, running toward the Labs at a frantic, terrified pace.

Caitlin awoke to find her wrists strapped to a chair, the sound of slow typewriter typing filling the room. She pulled on her wrists, the zip ties digging into her skin. "What do you want from me?" She asked the Turtle, who was sitting in a chair behind her.

He paused in his typing. "I want you to stop moving. Forever."

Caitlin kept trying to break free anyway. "What do you get out of killing me?" She asked desperately.

"Oh, I'm not gonna kill you. That's much too... fast... and messy. I like to take things nice... and slow."

"You don't have to hurt me to try to prove a point!" Caitlin pressed, unable to stop shaking.

"This isn't about hurting you." The Turtle said calmly. "This is about hurting someone who values you." He turned back to his typing, the grating sound once again filling the quiet room.

"Who? Barry?" Caitlin asked. She knew who it was, but she played dumb, hoping to convince the Turtle that Barry _wasn't_ , in fact, the Flash.

"No." The Turtle frowned. "The Flash."

'What does he have to do with this?"

"I saw how he saved you." The Turtle said slowly, getting to his feet.

"Yeah, that's what he does!" Caitlin cried, now getting nervous. It seemed the Turtle _didn't_ know who Barry was, and now there was a possibility that she had made him suspicious. "He's a hero; he saves people who need _saving_."

"Waste. Of time." Growled the Turtle. "Saving people. They take everything for granted."

"So you take the things that matter most to them." Caitlin murmured, looking away from him as he went back to his typewriter.

He back was turned when he spoke again. "My wife Rosalind took me for granted. She wanted to leave me- the thing I valued most."

"So that's what this is about." Caitlin realized. "You're hurt because your wife left you."

She could tell she was getting to him by the way his eyes started to look large and hurt. There was pain deep inside of him, and if she could only get it to come out, along with his better angels...

"I couldn't let that happen." The Turtle whispered. "So I made her mine. Forever."

Caitlin's blood ran cold as he pulled down a sheet, covering that wall, and revealed what looked to be a dead woman. But she was perfectly preserved, not decayed at all, the glass of her surrounding case clean and clear. Caitlin shuddered.

The Turtle pulled what he had been typing from the typewriter and pulled down another sheet, revealing another glass case. Caitlin couldn't see the paper, it was too far away, but she had a feeling of what it said.

 _Dr. Caitlin Snow._

"I do hope I spelled your name right." The Turtle whispered, sliding the paper into its slot, and sealing Caitlin's fate.

 **Flash!**

"Baer." Joe murmured, watching his adoptive son pacing nervously in front of the STAR Labs Cortex desks. "We'll find her."

Barry twisted his fingers together, then rubbed the bottom half of his face with a trembling hand. _Why was it always Caitlin?! Why couldn't he keep her safe?_

"I'm not getting any leads on this guy." Cisco sighed, staring with a frown at his computer screen. "It's like he's totally fallen of the grid. Any of the stuff he's stolen.. I can't find it."

"He keeps it." Harry muttered thoughtfully. Barry, who had only been half-listening until now, glanced up. Harry strode towards the computers, "He keeps them the way a serial killer collects trophies."

"He's stolen a lot of stuff." Jay said.

"Which means he needs a lot of space to store it, right?" Joe asked, catching on. "That's where we start. See if he's rented out any large storage spaces."

Barry sat up a little more as Cisco typed a few things on his computer. His face fell. "Uh.. no... I'm not getting anything." As Barry slumped, Cisco looked up, idea evident on his face. "Wait a minute. His wife used to be an archivist for antiquities at the Naydel Library before it shut down. And it shut down three months after the accelerator exploded."

Joe's eyes went wide. "That'd be big enough to hold Turtle's stuff."

Barry pulled away from his chair abruptly, running his hands through his hair. "Ok. Ok, alright."

"Wait, Barry!" Jay called after him. "We haven't even figured out how to neutralize the Turtle's power!"

"Well, I- I-" Barry was already at his suit, heart racing as possibilities of what the Turtle was doing to Caitlin zipping through his head. "I'm- I'm just gonna have to power through!" Before anyone could argue (like he knew they would), he had changed and was running towards the old library.

He skidded to a stop outside the worn down front wall, eyes drawn to the light inside a top floor room. "Alright. I'm outside the library."

"The only way to save Caitlin is if you grab her in between each of the Turtle's pulses." Cisco informed him. "You'll only have two _tenths_ of a second to make your moves."

"Ok." Barry took a deep, steadying breath. _This was for Caitlin_. He flashed inside the building.

 **Flash!**

Caitlin shifted nervously in her chair as the Turtle raised a loaded needle. It was filled with some sort of clear-ish liquid, and she would have been more interesting in it if the pointy end was going pressed to her vein.

"N- N- No!" Caitlin jolted back, fighting her cuffs.

The Turtle was about to pierce her skin when a loud echo made both of them look up. He placed the needle back down on the table, and Caitlin let out a breath, safe. _For now_...

It didn't take long for them to find out the source of the noise. Barry came flashing into the old building, yellow lighting streaming about him. Caitlin calmed instantaneously. If he was here, she was safe.

The Turtle turned from her with an annoyed look, and a greenish blast of light emanated from his body. The fastest man alive slowed to a crawl, then nearly a standstill as another layer of slow was sent his way.

The Turtle strode toward the stuck speedster and raised his fist. Barry, unable to move, could only take his punches in slow motion as they struck his face. Caitlin clenched her fists around her armrests tighter, left unharmed by the slow blast.

With one final punch, the Turtle knocked Barry back and released the slow simultaneously. Barry crumpled to the ground, and didn't waste and time in getting out of the building.

"I guess he doesn't care about you as much as I thought." The Turtle murmured, turning back to Caitlin. He picked up a curved blade from a tray, and Caitlin could feel herself begin to shake.

The Turtle was just laying the blade to her skin when the same sound of speed lighting had the him turning around once again. He sent layer after layer of slow at Barry, but somehow, the speedster kept moving.

 _A supersonic punch_. Caitlin realized. _That's why he left_.

At one point, Barry seemed to be moving backwards he was going so slowly. Then the Turtle made the mistake of sending another layer of slow, and Barry used that small gap to shoot foreword. He rammed a fist into the Turtle's chest and the malefactor flew backwards, crumpling to the ground.

Barry leaned over, heaving for breath. He wiped blood from his nose, then saw Caitlin. "Ah, ok, sorry." He grabbed the knife from the ground where the Turtle had dropped it, and quickly split her bonds.

Caitlin wrapped her trembling arms around his waist. "Thank you." She breathed. "Thank you."

 **Flash!**

"Hey Turtle." Barry peered into the glass, unable to hold back his triumphant smile. "You know what my new definition of irony is? You are now our most prized possession."

The Turtle, still bleary from recent unconsciousness, slammed his fists against the pipeline cell, trying again and again to get his powers to work as the lockdown door slowly closed in front of him.

Barry nodded in satisfaction, and took his place next to Caitlin. "You ok?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm ok." Caitlin said, resting her head on his chest.

They filed out of the pipeline, and Caitlin released her breath. "Forgot to say- thanks for saving me. Again."

"You do it every day." Barry grinned, taking her hand and leading her out of the the room. "You coming to Joe's, or...?"

"I was going to stay home tonight..." Caitlin hesitated. "But I don't know if being alone is the best thing for my nerves right now. I just feel bad, invading Joe's house all the time..."

"How 'bout I come to you?" Barry offered. "If you don't mind, that is."

"Of course not!" Caitlin squeezed his hand. "My place is a bit of a mess, but considering the state of your lab, I don't think you'll mind to much."

He gave her a nudge, affronted. "I take offense to that."

Still giggling, Caitlin let him lead her out of the Cortex, towards home.

 **Author's Note: Yay! That was fun, and worth the extra work with the character replacement.**


	11. 2x11

**Author's Note: Wow! Can you believe we're on chapter 11 already? I'm sorry the updates have been so slow... hopefully, it's still worth it!**

 **I actually had a really hard time finding scenes for this episode for whatever reason... I'm hoping that it's not too uninspired/choppy- apologies if it is!**

Caitlin found the Turtle's dead body when she went down to bring him food. She dropped the tray with a shriek, eyes on the drip of blood falling from his nose. Jay, hearing her scream, came running down the corridor. He too pulled up short at seeing the dead meta.

Without speaking a word to each other, the two members of Team Flash raced up the steps. Cisco glanced up as they came in, just finishing his sentence. "We'll just use the Turtle to stop Zoom."

"That might be a little harder then we thought." Jay said gravely.

"Why's that?" Cisco asked, wrinkling his nose.

"Because the Turtle's dead."

"Whaaaaat?" Cisco's eyebrows shot up to his hairline. He leaned mournfully over the mic. "Barry, we need you back here. Stat."

"Alright, I'm on my way." Barry said back, frowning as he tried to think about what could have happened. Maybe they had a breakthrough with the Turtle...?

He raced toward the Cortex, grinning as he was forced to faze through Caitlin and Jay to enter the room. "What'd I miss?" He asked, hyped up on adrenaline and saving the day.

Jay and Caitlin exchanged looks. "Um, Barry, don't get upset..." Caitlin started slowly.

"The Turtle's dead." Cisco said bluntly. He stood up. "We should probably go check that out."

They walked out of the Cortex, leaving Barry's smile to fade off his face and follow after them.

"He better not be pulling a Juliet." Cisco grumped as Caitlin scanned the Turtle and tried to pick up the cause of death. She glanced over her shoulder, eyebrow raised. "Hey that's right. I see plays."

"He's dead, Cisco." Caitlin said.

"How'd this happen?" Harry asked, face grave as he stared into the open cell.

"Brain scan shows an acute brain aneurism." Caitlin reported, reading off her tablet. She squeezed Barry's shoulder as she stood up. "I'm sorry. I know you had your hopes on this."

"The night we captured him." Jay noted, hands stuffed in his pockets. "How's that for timing?"

They filed back up to the Cortex as a group, leaving the Turtle's body in the Pipeline for now. Caitlin grimaced, not wanting to be the one to take it down to the Morgue. When they arrived, they found Joe there, pacing. "Baer- I just got word from Dr. McGee's lab. The security system just got visited by a speedster in a yellow suit."

Barry's eyes shot up from their resting place on the floor. "What?! The- How is that possible for him to be- The Reverse-" He petered off. "Are- Are you sure?"

"Speedster. Yellow suit." Cisco shook his head, his face incredulous. "It couldn't _be_ anyone else, could it? I mean- but he's dead?" The last line ended in a question, and Cisco wrinkled his nose in confusion.

Barry leaned against a desk, his mouth working as he processed. "It can't be him." He decided finally. "It just can't be."

"There's more." Joe let out a sigh, rubbing his forehead. "Apparently, he kidnapped Dr. McGee." Barry's face fell, and Joe turned to him. "You alright?"

"Yeah..." He shook his head. "It's just a lot."

"Eddie Thawn died so Eobard Thawn should have been... erased from existence." Joe said, locking eyes with Caitlin. "Right?"

"Not necessarily." Harry murmured thoughtfully. He strode over to the whiteboard and whipped out a marker, leaving the rest of them to wait and watch. "Edward-"

"Eddie."

"Whatever. He died, and erased Eobard from this timeline. That action created another universe, so now there are two." He drew two circles on the whiteboard. "One earth is this earth, where the Reverse Flash no longer exists. The _other_ earth is one where he does. That's why Barry's mom's death wasn't changed, because time got messed up. Now Eobard is coming from that _other_ Earth-" He drew a line, hopping between the two Earths. "So that's how he's still alive."

Joe shook his head. "This is all too much." He muttered, turning and exiting the room. "I'll call you if I get an update on Dr. McGee. We need to find her before Eobard can use her for whatever he needs."

Harry squinted at his board, then gestured to Cisco. "Ramon." He said shortly, leading the other man out.

Caitlin kept staring at the whiteboard, not really seeing it. Barry leaned foreword. "Caitlin, I know you're worried about Dr. McGee, but we're gonna get her back."

To his surprise, Caitlin shook her head. "It's not that." She murmured. "It's Jay. He- he told me that he's... sick. And it's getting worse." She bit her lip. "When Zoom stole his speed, it effected him on a cellular level. We need to do something about it."

Barry nodded, his face going a little stiff. "Ok. Like what?"

"I think we should replace his dying cells with healthy ones." Caitlin told him. "Cells indistinguishable from his."

Barry frowned. "How do we do that?"

"We find his Earth 1 doppelgänger."

Barry nodded slowly. "Yeah, no, that makes sense." He nodded again, and walked toward the exit. "Um, you want to look for that while we figure out the Reverse Flash problem?"

"I guess." Caitlin shifted in her chair. "I mean, I want to help you guys, but if this infects him too much... he could die."

"Yeah, yeah I get it." Barry came back in, face still stiff, placing his hand on her shoulder. "If he... _does_ anything, just let me know, ok?"

Caitlin squinted at him. "I can take care of myself, Barry. If Jay tries anything, it's not like you're going to be able to do anything about that." She crossed her arms, uncomfortable. "I know your my boyfriend... but I can handle it."

"Ok, sorry." Barry quickly picked up his hand and held the other one up too, in the sign of surrender. "I'll, um, see you later."

He was out before she could say anything else.

Caitlin frowned and leaned foreword on the table. What had just happened there? Jay was a member of their team. Even with his... previous interest in her, Caitlin didn't think that he would be messed up enough to try and turn her being a doctor and helping him with his illness into her _liking_ him. She had thought she made it pretty obvious how she felt about Jay- to both Barry and the Earth 2 not-speedster. So why was Barry acting so weird about it?

( **A.N: See? See what happens when I try to make it angsty? It ends up being terrible. UGH I can't win.** )

 **Flash!**

She didn't get the chance to find out, spending her time scanning for Jay's doppelgänger and watching as Cisco struggled to control his powers. She felt unusually useless. Nobody needed her to patch up an injury or concoct a serum, and all she had left to do was look through database after database for someone who didn't seem to exist.

Needing a break and not wanting to face Jay to tell him that she didn't have a plan B in case they couldn't his doppelgänger, Caitlin traipsed over to Barry's lab. Maybe she could get him to help- and figure out what was up at the same time.

"The facial recognition at STAR Labs didn't find anything."

"No... but there's still more databases to check. We'll find his doppelgänger." Barry seemed to have mellowed out a little since that afternoon. He gave her a real smile, glancing up from his scanning.

"Thanks Barry." Caitlin said softly. She bit her lip. "About... About earlier. I didn't mean to snap at you. I suppose I just feel like I'm not able to take care of myself when I have to depend on other's to help me. I'm not- I'm used to only relying on myself when I'm in trouble. Even with all of our work these past few years... Jay's sickness really came out of nowhere, and it knocked me out of whack."

Barry cupped her cheek with his hand, pressing their lips together for a moment. "Don't apologize. That was me. I get jealous whenever Jay is involved, and you know how rash and annoying I can be when emotions are in the way.

"You? Rash? _Never_." Caitlin said sarcastically, smiling at him.

He playfully nudged her shoulder. "Watch it, Dr. Snow. I was trying for an apology."

And just like that, they were ok. It amazed Caitlin time and time again how, without fail, Barry except every part of her- even the uptight bit that nobody seemed to like.

Cisco called them from STAR Labs a little bit later, bringing them back to the building. "Harry got me to vibe-"

"You can tell them later." Harry cut him off. "Just- just tell them what you saw."

Cisco fiddled with his hands. "The Reverse Flash- I saw him with Doctor McGee... and he- killed her."

"Dr. McGee is dead?" Caitlin's eyes filled with horror.

Cisco slumped. "Harry and I... were trying to hone my powers to find Zoom, and then we ended up using them to find the Reverse Flash and... I saw him kill her. And then he left."

"He left?" Barry's eyebrows shot up. "What do you mean, he _left_?"

"McGee built him some kind of speed machine, and he ran into it and got flung back to the future." Cisco snapped, looking upset. Caitlin didn't blame him.

Barry's slumped, looking impossibly frustrated at the situation. Harry shook his head. "Well, you'd need superluminal energy to send someone through time."

"You mean like-"

"Tachyons." Wells finished, sliding his hands into his pockets.

Barry struggled for what to do. "Well we can track their location once they've been activated."

Harry was already at the computer, typing into the search parameters. "Nothing." He said.

"Cisco, you're _sure_ that's what you saw?" Barry interrogated.

Cisco rubbed his forehead, looking tired and unhappy. "Positive."

Barry nodded, satisfied with the answer, but Harry turned toward him. "What else did you see?"

"There was all sorts of weird tech everywhere." Cisco recalled. "There was a clock."

"What time did the clock say?" Harry demanded, face stone serious.

"9:52, I think- how is that relevant?"

"It's 6 o'clock now." Harry told him.

Cisco stood abruptly, sending his chair rolling away with one dramatic push. "Are you telling him I can see the future?!"

"That's exactly what I'm telling you." Harry said.

"Those goggles are getting names." Cisco muttered. "Immediately."

Caitlin felt a little glow of hope start up in her chest. "But that means Dr. McGee's alive."

"That's right."

Barry clapped his hands together, getting down to business. "Ok. We have 3 hours and 52 minutes to find her and stop the Reverse Flash. Let's do it."

 **Flash!**

A few hours later, the atmosphere was considerably more tense. "We're running out of time." Barry muttered. "We've gotta find them."

"It'll take a few minutes for the device to reach full power once it's activated." Cisco reported. "When we find it, you're gonna have to get there fast."

Barry let out a nervous laugh, and Caitlin walked up to him. "Hey, Barry. Have you found out anything else about Jay's doppelgänger?"

Barry shook his head. "There's no "Jay Garrick" on this Earth."

"That's so weird." Caitlin pinched her lips together in the frustration of not being able to solve a problem. " _Everyone_ has a doppelgänger."

"Maybe just... ask Jay?" Barry suggested, his eyes letting her know that this thought went beyond just helping the Earth 2 resident. It told her that he trusted her enough to be able to handle a situation like that on her own.

"Yeah, yeah, I guess I'll do that." Caitlin puffed out a breath, newly determined.

She met up with Jay at the park, the two of them walking towards a bench. "I still don't understand what we're doing here."

"You'll see." Jay sat down on one of the benches and she did the same, frowning as she tried to figure out why this was all relevant. "Like you, I thought that replacing my cells with my doppelgänger's dead ones would be the answer to my problem. It took my awhile, but I eventually found him." He jutted his chin towards a man who could have been Jay's twin brother, except he was wearing glasses. "Hunter Zolomon."

"Hunter Zolomon?" Caitlin repeated, frowning. "Huh?"

"Apparently, his parents died when he was little, and he was passed around from foster home to foster home before finally being adopted by the Zolomons." Jay explained.

"But why does that mean he can't help you?"

"My cells were mutated by the explosion." Jay murmured, dropping his gaze. "The only was to save me is to stop Zoom, and get my speed back."

Caitlin nodded with new determination. "So let's figure out how to do that, for once and for all."

 **Flash!**

As soon as Cisco had a ping on the location of the tachyons, Barry was off. Caitlin watched the clock nervously as Barry sped towards the scene of the about-to-be murder. Cisco pulled up cams and the two of them watched in horror as the Reverse Flash slowly lowered his vibrating hand to Dr. McGee's chest.

"He's gonna kill her." Caitlin breathed.

Then Barry burst onto the speed in an explosion of speed, knocking the Reverse Flash backward. Barry immediately turned to the Dr. "You're ok? Ok, ok, get out of here, go, go!"

He swung back to Eobard just as the villain was getting to his feet, mask dislodged. Barry raced over to the tachyons and promptly destroyed them.

"That was my way home!" Eobard roared angrily.

"You're not going anywhere." Barry told him, dropping the tech to the floor in pieces as he faced off with his old nemesis.

Eobard pulled his hood back over his face. "Catch me if you can." He raced off, Barry close on his heels.

Everyone in STAR Labs whipped to Barry's tracker on the city-scape map, watching it blur around the streets in fast motion. "Oh, it's on." Cisco muttered.

The two of them ran and ran, until finally, Barry took a short cut and cut the Reverse Flash off, slamming him into a metal fence with a clattering crash. Caitlin winced.

"You're not fast enough." Barry growled, punching the Reverse Flash across the face. "I will never lose to you again." He hit him once more, the turned and slammed him into another side of the fence. "This war between us ends _now_."

Using his super speed, Barry slammed his fists into Eobard's stomach, ruthless and pitiless. Caitlin leaned foreword, "Barry, you've gotta stop!"

He didn't listen, continuing to pummel the man that had destroyed his life. "Barry, don't kill him, just bring him in!" Caitlin pleaded, heart pounding.

With another crash, Barry stopped his tirade, letting the Man in Yellow keel over sideways, bloody and beaten. Then Barry picked him up, and they flashed back off to STAR Labs.

 **Flash!**

Barry had just finished up one of the most satisfying conversations of his life with Eobard when Caitlin's frantic voice came down through the Pipeline speakers. "We need you in the Cortex- now!"

He shut the doors to Eobard's cage and flashed up immediately. When her arrived, Cisco was seizing on the bed with blood gushing from his nose, Joe and Harry holding him down. "What's happening?!" He asked.

"He's experiencing an uncontrollable amount of energy in his brain, putting him in a prolonged state of clotic seizing." Caitlin cried, hunched over the computer screen monitoring Cisco's brain.

"Can you stop it?" Barry choked out, going to help the men holding Cisco down.

She turned to him, face a mess of emotion. "I don't know." She shook her head, biting her lip. "Hold him down, ok?"

"We're trying!" Joe yelled back, hands clamped to Cisco's thrashing shoulders.

"Sedate him, Snow, NOW!" Harry bellowed.

Caitlin ran toward the bed, holding a syringe, which she jabbed _hard_ into Cisco's leg. His thrashing slowed to some small jerks, then to stillness.

Joe released his breath. " _Finally_."

Then they all jerked back with matching horrified gasps as Cisco's body turned see through and intangible.

"What was that?!" Barry asked in alarm.

"What's going on; where the heck am I?!" Cisco yelled from the bed, eyes still shut and body still motionless, his voice sounded echoey and far away.

"Cisco!" Barry cried.

"It's the Timeline." Harry realized, face going grave.

"What? What are you talking about?"

"When you captured- Reverse Flash-" Harry stuttered, words coming out a dozen a second. "It messed up the timeline, that's what all the blood is about and the seizures and- and Cisco- is being affected- by- by the change to the Timeline, the changes of the past and the changes to the future- this is what this is- we need to do something and we need to do it _fast_."

"What?!" Joe bellowed.

"We need to restore the Timeline- BARRY!" Harry whipped towards him. "You need to get Reverse Flash and send him _back_ the future as quickly as possible-"

"What?!" Barry raged. "I just caught him, you want me to let him go?!"

"Yes, and that is _killing Cisco_." Harry shouted back.

"Barry, if this is the only way you can save him, you've gotta do it!" Joe yelled, frantically gripping onto the edge of the bed.

"Please, Barry!" Caitlin pleaded, her legs feeling weak, knowing that she could be next to be disappearing from the Timeline at any second.

His eyes shot to hers and the fight went out of him. "Ok, but I- I destroyed the tachyons drive and the speed machine there's no way he'll reach the speed necessary to send him home."

"But you can." Harry's head lifted.

"What?"

"Your speed, coupled with Thawn's speed; that'll be enough to break the time continuum. You can do it."

An inward struggle was fiercely evident on Barry's face as he stared at Cisco's evaporating body. Barry's eyes once again went to hers, and then he nodded. "Alright. Alright. Let's do it."

 **Flash!**

Thawn had been sent home to his present and Timeline, and the newly non-transparent Cisco was waking up. Caitlin lifted her head from its resting point on Barry shoulder and gave him a relieved smile. "How do you feel?"

"My head feels likes it's in a vice." Cisco groaned, eyes not completely open yet. He blinked blearily at all of the people sitting around his bed. "What happened?"

"I think you vibed one too many dimensions." Harry said from the corner, the only sign of his relief being a faint smirk playing around his lips.

"I think I should stop doing that." Cisco muttered, causing Joe to break into a laugh.

"Yeah, I think he's gonna be fine."

"I think I need a Big Belly Burger. Anyone?" Harry offered.

"I'm good." Barry said. "Thank you."

"Yeah, no pickles." Joe directed.

"Two triple triples, please." Cisco groaned.

Harry gave him a look. "You got money?"

Looking mildly disappointed, Cisco slunk back down among his sheets.

Caitlin smiled, squeezing his shoulder. "You get some rest, alright?" She stood up and gave Harry a few bills. "I'll pay for the burger."

"You are literally the best friend. Ever." Cisco declared, shutting his eyes again.

Barry followed her out of the room and caught her arm in the corridor leading away from STAR Labs. "Hey- about today... with Cisco and everything... I just feel bad."

Caitlin bit her lip and looked away. "I've never seen you like that. Willing to risk one of our lives over stopping a bad guy."

Barry looked down ashamed, his hand dropping from her arm. "With everything that happened- you saw the video. He told me I'd never truly be happy. And I just though... if I could catch him for good... maybe that could change."

"You're not happy?" Caitlin breathed, fighting tears. "I just thought-"

"No, no, I am happy. You make me happy." Barry said hurriedly. "And I'm sorry about today."

"Everyone makes mistakes." Caitlin said, turning away. Right before she got out of his range of hearing, she paused. "Barry? If it had been me on that bed?"

Even from this distance, she heard Barry's breath catch. When he spoke, he sounded so sure that she wondered how she could have ever asked the question in the first place. "If it was your life on the line, I'd let him go a million times over."

 **Author's Note: Gah, that one was so short! So sorry :( I just didn't have much video reference. Or Snowbarry scenes to work with, for that matter.**


	12. 2x12

**Author's Note: We've got about 11 more to go! I wonder if I will be able to finished before it comes back on for season 4?**

 ** _OK: READ THIS FOR ANSWERED QUESTIONS ABOUT SEASON 3:_ **

**I have made my complete decision. I will NOT be doing season 3. The only episode I feel is necessary to have (3x07, Killer Frost) will be an extra in a story called "Snowbarry- Season Extras", and maybe, if you guys are nice, will have a few other episodes that don't include Flashpoint plotlines (they _can_ include Savitar, though). This story will end happily, without Barry causing flashpoint, and will all be wrapped up by the end of the 23 chapter!**

 **Thank you so much to** **Enteredcoin1** **for their amazing PMs that really got the ideas flowing!**

"So, Tar Pit- Tar Pit, that's what we're calling him?"

"That's right." Cisco said from his chair, looking immensely proud of himself..

"Tar Pit was after one Clay Stanley. Stanley, as it turns out, was a suspected hit man." Barry explained, turning his gaze from the police records up on the screen back towards his friends. "One that the CCPD has been trying to track for awhile, but they haven't been able to make anything stick."

Cisco let out a high pitched, goofy giggle. Barry rolled his eyes. "No pun intended."

"Do we know why he was attacked?" Caitlin asked, sending Cisco a look.

Barry shrugged. "Stanley wouldn't answer any of my questions; he was pretty scared."

"When a hit man is scared, you know something's wrong." Cisco injected, making a face.

"Did you get an ID on our metahuman?" Barry asked, changing the subject slightly.

"Yeah..." Cisco swiveled towards his computer, frowning at the screen. "I'm running it through five different facial recognition systems right now, so it should take a minute-" The sound of an alert cut him off. "And there it is... who's the best hacker in the world, people?"

"Felicity Smoak." Both Caitlin and Barry said automatically.

"What is wrong with you two? That's not friendship." Cisco accused. "You two with your... synchronized responses and simultaneous shrugging- don't give me those matching eye-rolls, your doing it right now! It's almost like you're a couple or something."

Barry snickered as Caitlin gave him _another_ eye roll and turned to their information. "Our metahuman's name is Joseph Monteleone."

"Oh, he looks friendly." Cisco commented sarcastically, getting out of his swivel chair to stand beside the two of them.

Barry leaned foreword to read the small print. "Monteleone's car was reported missing- surprise, surprise- the night of the Particle Accelerator Explosion."

"And... what's the connection between Monteleone and the two victims?" Caitlin asked.

Barry shrugged, shooting her a glance. "I'll call Joe." He offered. "I'll run back, do some background checks on all three guys."

"Ok." Caitlin agreed. "I'm gonna run some tests on the tar sample, see if I can find his weakness." She set off towards her lab, leaving Cisco raising his eyebrow behind the two of them.

"Look at you two." He muttered, not loud enough for either of them to hear. "Saving that world together. How _romantic_." Smirking like a teasing younger sibling, the tech wiz set off to see what he could do to fight their latests metahuman.

 **Flash!**

Barry and Harry were on their way back from their most recent breach-closing section. It was a method that they had discovered to help close the 52 breaches located around Central City, hoping to keep Zoom and other metahumans out as easily as possible.

"Hey, you've been pretty quiet since we closed that last breach." Barry commented as he drove.

"Look, Allen-" Harry started, but Barry's phone took that moment to buzz.

He picked it up out of his lap. "Iris, hey." Face suddenly draining, Barry dropped his phone and whipped to Harry. "Hey, I gotta go."

The next thing he knew, Harry was in the driver's seat, with the speedster no where to be found.

Barry whizzed towards Wally's frequented drag-racing spot, fear and adrenaline pounding him. If this could be their opportunity to permanently stop Tar Pit, he was taking it.

He arrived in time to see Wally's car flipping over in the air. Barry dove into it, grabbing Wally and thrusting him out of the seat. He skidded on the pavement as he slowed down, whirling to watch Wally's car as it spun towards them.

It hit the ground in a nose dive and shattered, filaments of metal and glass hurling themselves towards none other then Iris West, come to investigate the scene of her brother's drag racing with Joe.

Barry took off towards his sister, pushing metal and glass out of the way. One giant piece evaded his fingertips, and it was all he could do to watch in horror as the glass slammed into Iris' chest.

Red exploded over the beige of her coat, and Iris gasped and fell in slow motion. The world spun around Barry in a blur of pain and fear.

 _He wasn't fast enough_.

 **Flash!**

Barry did go to the hospital right away. After arriving with Iris, he waited until Joe was there and then flashed back to STAR Labs to let his friends know what had happened.

As soon as he began his explanation, his began to water, and soon, Caitlin shoulder was getting quite wet.

Cisco looked a little shell-shocked. "But- but she's gonna be alright, right?" He asked for the third time, and Caitlin could see his hands trembling as he clenched them around the arms of his chair.

Caitlin stroked Barry's hair as he wrapped himself up in her arms. He nodded. "Yeah- I- I think she'll be ok."

"That's good, right?" Caitlin asked gently. "Iris is going to be fine. Nobody died. It's ok-"

"I wasn't fast enough." Barry croaked, eyes red as he swiped at his cheeks. "I wasn't fast enough to save my sister. How can I be a hero if I can't even save my family?"

Caitlin tugged him back into her arms and ran her nails along his back. Cisco rubbed at his forehead. "Hey, man, it wasn't your fault. This was all Tar Pit." He shuddered. "I'm gonna- You two need your time and-"

"You can go see her, Cisco." Caitlin told him gently, smiling a little. "That's ok."

"Yeah." Cisco agreed, nodding. "Yeah."

He stood abruptly and ran out of the room, ready to jump in his car and go sit by Iris' bedside with the rest of the people who cared about her.

Barry shut his eyes and rested his head on Caitlin's shoulder, breathing in her scent of evergreen tress and mint. "I love you." He whispered quietly. "No matter what happens, you can always make me feel better."

"That's kinda my job, right?" Caitlin smiled, kissing the top of his head. "They put the person they love in front of themselves, no matter what, and are always their for them."

Barry blinked up at her, gaze steady. "Honestly, that doesn't sound like a girlfriend. That sounds like a wife."

Caitlin swallowed, unable to look away, butterflies shooting through her blood at his words.

Harry walked into the room and the spell was abruptly broken. Caitlin shot her gaze down to her hands, twisting them together to stop their shakiness. "Yeah, yeah, I guess so."

Even long after Barry wiped his eyes and got up, Caitlin remained seated, one words cycling on repeat through her brain:

 _Wife. Wife. Wife. Wife._

 **Flash!**

After the fight with Tar Pit and Iris' injury, he found himself standing in front of his suit, lost in thought. It wasn't just his family troubles, though. It was something possibly worse.

"Don't worry." Caitlin told him, squeezing his shoulder and pressing her lips to his cheek for a moment as she made her way to her desk. "We're gonna get him."

"Huh?" Barry blinked back into the present.

"Tar Pit." Cisco picked up. "We're gonna get him. With these-"

He lunched as Harry tossed him two round pieces of tech. "With these _nitrous grenades_." Cisco protested, astonished at the lack of concern about their lives if Cisco hadn't been able to catch them. "Each of these has 10 times the concentration of a hot rods nitrous tank," Cisco continued. Caitlin nodded from her desk, impressed. "And is triggered by extreme heat. We're talking 650 degrees- that's the boiling point of asphalt. So! One of these puppies, makes contact: You've got a tarpit popsicle, for dessert!"

Barry didn't look particularly excited. He nodded, distracted. "Alright. That's great. Hey, look." He turned back to Cisco abruptly, seeming to have forgotten the course of their conversation just a second before. "I think you were right. I felt... slower, tonight. You know, not by much, but enough. Do you think there's something wrong with the suit or something-"

That got Harry's attention. "It's unlikely." He interrupted Barry.

Cisco nodded, agreeing. "The readings are normal. You know I take care of that thing."

"Yeah." Barry muttered. "So, what? Am I sick?"

"I dunno; do you feel any different?" Cisco asked, looking a little concerned.

Caitlin frowned from her desk, taking this as her cue to stand up and join them. Sick speedsters were _her_ area- not Cisco's.

"No, not really- I mean, I _know_ that I'm slower in the moment, but I can't tell by how much."

"2%." Caitlin spoke up. Both the boys turned to her, Barry's face depressed, Cisco's worried. "Tests on your blood show the Speed Force at 100% for the last 60 days. Until today. It dropped to 98."

She exchanged looks with Cisco, and then with Barry, who was still looking at the readings on her tablet.

"Zoom stole Jay's speed." Cisco reminded them. "Do you think maybe... during your fight with Zoom... your's might have diminished?"

"But that was weeks ago." Barry said, confused. "Why would I just be feeling those affects now?" Caitlin took a breath, shrugging, and Barry turned to their mentor. "Dr. Wells: You've studied the Speed Force more then anyone. What do you think could have happened?"

Harry looked strangely uncomfortable. He shifted in his chair, then looked away dismissively. "It could be any number of things."

"Yeah. Alright." Barry turned away from Wells and his suit, running his hands over his neck with a sigh. It was a sure sign he was upset. "Guys, look. Iris could have died tonight."

"She's gonna be ok, Barry." Caitlin said gently.

"This time." Barry pressed. "But the fact is that she is hurt, right now, because of me. I wasn't fast enough to protect Iris from some metahuman tonight. When Zoom attacks again, I- I need all of my speed, and then some!" His eyes glazed over a little, drifting towards Caitlin in a haunted way. "I can't lose anyone else."

There was a sudden clatter from Harry's direction as he slammed his hands down on the table and stood up. "You won't." He said.

Everyone turned to look at him as he faced them. "I did it."

"What?" Barry's asked, his voice shocked and uncomprehending.

Harry strode over to Barry's suit and pulled off the emblem, a spark of blue light lighting up the area behind it.

Cisco held out his hand. "Whoa, whoa, whoa- what is that?"

Harry simply tossed the tech over, and Cisco caught it. It was a strange looking, blue vial.

Barry's eyes were still on Harry, hurt crossing his face in a storm of other emotions. Harry walked foreword. "I stole your speed." He said flatly. "And I gave it to Zoom."

"No- no-" Barry broke off, anger starting to form. "You're working with _Zoom_?"

"Not at first."

Caitlin clutched at her tablet, not taking her eyes off of Harry as he continued to stand calmly in the Cortex. This was happening _again_.

"We trusted you!" Barry exploded. " _I_ trusted you!"

Joe shoved past Barry, and with one swing of his fist, slammed his punch into Harry's face. Harry crumpled backward and Caitlin gasped as Joe grabbed him by the lapels. "Joe, _stop_!"

Joe dragged Harry upright and shoved him all the way to the pipeline. The rest of them hurried to follow, watching in mute horror as Joe tossed Harry into a cell and shut the door.

"Why did you put him in there?!" Caitlin asked, trying to match Joe's large stride as they went back up to the Cortex.

"Because if I didn't, I would have killed him." Joe said darkly. "Now let's go get this tar freak."

 **Flash!**

Barry's defeat of Tar Pit was the fastest the team had probably ever seen (because the capture of Mark Mardin when he had already lived through the day didn't count). Using one of Monteleone's old partners, the one that had thrown him in the tar container in the first place, as bait. It didn't take long for Tar Pit to show up, and when he did, Barry was ready to flash in with the nitrous grenades and take him out, for once and for all. Joe ended it with a punch to Monteleone's nose, knocking him out cold.

They locked him up in the Pipeline, and then Caitlin and Cisco took their exit to allow Barry time to talk to Wells. Caitlin sat in a chair across from Cisco, who was consumed by his texting, smiling the whole while.

"Who are you texting with?" Caitlin asked curiously, trying to peer around Cisco's shoulder.

"Oh... just this girl." He said, executing some evasive maneuvers to keep her from seeing his phone.

"Iris, huh?" Caitlin smiled knowingly.

Cisco blanched, mouth dropping open about half a foot. "Wait- how did- are you a metahuman who can read minds or something?! Who are you, and what have you done with Caitlin?"

Caitlin laughed, shaking her head. "You guys are pretty obvious, you know. And hey, I'm happy for you two."

"Thing is... there isn't a "you two"." Cisco sighed. Then he grinned. "Yet."

Barry and Joe took that moment to come up from the Pipeline, both looking grim and tired. Caitlin gave Barry a smile, and quickly pulled up a sample of Barry's DNA.

"This is a sample of Barry's cells after whatever Harry did to them." She was unable to keep the disgust out of her voice. "As you can see, not only is it drained of the Speed Force, but it's also presenting itself as chromosomal damage. If Harry had kept doing what he was doing..." Caitlin trailed off, knowing she had to tread this area of the subject carefully. "He could have taken your powers... permanently."

"Even evil Wells couldn't figure out how to do that one." Cisco muttered.

Joe crossed his arms. "Look, someone better send him back to where he came from, or I'm going to shoot him."

"No." Barry turned, having silently faced his suit this entire time.

"What do you mean, no?" Joe asked.

Barry shrugged, and let his shoulders fall. "What would we have done if we were in his position?" He asked locking eyes with Joe. "I mean, what would you do? If it was Iris, Joe. Cisco- when Snart kidnapped you, threatened to kill your brother unless you helped, you did! And... none of us judged you for that."

Nobody spoke as Barry moved towards them, the weight and truth of his words settling over their shoulders like a heavy blanket.

"We still don't. Because when it comes to family, when it comes to the people we all love... We're all vulnerable. None of us are above making a wrong decision." Caitlin's eyes fell her to hands, resting on the desk in front of her, as Barry dug into them with the truth of their situation. "He could have done it. He could have stolen my speed and gotten away with it; none of use would have even known. But he didn't. And now his daughter's gonna die and we're- we're _ok_ with that?"

He stared at the three of them with a pleading expression, and a feeling of unadulterated love slammed into Caitlin. Barry Allen was quite definitely the most amazing person that had ever lived.

"I can't just give up on her." Barry continued. "I- I can't give up on a _world_. It's a _world_ full of people who are facing death. I- I don't know- I may not be fast enough to beat Zoom yet, but I- I'm not gonna just... close the breaches and forget about it. We have to help Wells."

Behind her, Caitlin could feel Joe's breath tightened. Barry glanced down for a moment with a shaky inhale. "Look guys. I was the one that trusted him first. I own that. I let him stay, even when Cisco and Joe told me not to. So everything that's happened up until this point: It's on me. But this _has_ to be a group decision."

It didn't take much hesitation. "If you believe in him..." Caitlin started. "Then so do I."

"Let's let him out." Cisco agreed.

"Joe?" Barry asked, his face steady but his eyes revealing his nervousness.

"Yeah." Joe nodded. "Yeah. Ok. He gets one more chance."

A beaming smile broke over Barry's face, bright and beautiful. "Have I ever told you guys that you are the best team _ever_?"

They walked down to the pipeline as a group, and Barry pressed the release button. Harry stepped through, his face blank. "Well. I guess this is goodbye."

"No." Barry said firmly. "I said we're a team, and you're a part of that team now, too. We're not sending you though alone. We're going to Earth 2."

 **Author's Note: There you have it! Another, unfortunately, short one. But at least my posting's been a little faster, right? Silver linings?**

 **OMG! He started talking marriage! Believe it or not, I don't actually have a plan for how... all of that is going to go. Take it as it comes, I suppose!**


	13. 2x13

**Author's Note: Trudging along! This is when things _really_ start to get interesting. This will be mostly from Barry's point of view, though if their are scenes where I can insert Caitlin, I will. She will _not_ be going to E2, though. Just wouldn't work.**

They were closing the breaches. All of them. One by one, slowly shutting down all access from Earth 2 to their own Earth. By the end of the afternoon, there would be only one portal left. And that was what they were going to use to get to Earth 2.

Inside the Cortex, Cisco and Caitlin bopped from computer screen to computer screen, watching the breaches blip out of sight as Barry threw specially developed breath-closers into each one of them.

"29!" Cisco reported.

"28..." Caitlin said, grinning as she watched Barry blip from place to place at super speed.

"27..."

"26!"

They made it down to two before Barry finally stopped, his breath steaming in the cold air. He fingered the last breach closer, and then the swirling hole of blue.

Then he tossed the tech into the breach and watched it flicker shut.

Watching from the screen, Cisco mic-dropped his ruler to his desk and threw his hands in the air. "Bam! That's how it's done."

Caitlin grinned, shaking her head slowly as the last breach blinked out of existence. The next second, Barry flashed in, cowl off and brown hair messy. He tossed the last breach-closer to Cisco, who caught it and placed it on the desk. "He shoots- he scores!"

"Not bad for a guy who got a C in gym." Barry joked, pulling of his gloves and walking over to them.

"D+." Caitlin reported.

"Straight up F, right here." Cisco grinned, not seeming all that upset about it.

"Can't believe it. We closed all the breaches." Caitlin breathed.

"All except one." Barry nodded over at the layout of the city, where the biggest breach was glowing bright, right on top of STAR Labs. "That's our way to Earth 2."

Everyone turned as Harry walked into the room, gun over his shoulder and hands planted on his hips. "You ready?"

"Yeah..." Barry nodded, tossing his gloves from one hand to another. "I just need to take care of some things first."

Harry's eyes bored into him. "Just a reminder, Allen. Clock's ticking."

Barry shook his head, taking a breath. "It always is."

 **Flash!**

It was time. Time to send Harry, Cisco and Barry through the Bunker's breach to Earth 2 on a mission that was insanely dangerous, and possibly suicidal.

Considering that, Jay seemed pretty calm. "Alright Barry, listen to me. You're about to go through the looking glass. You're going to see things that look and feel familiar, but they're _not_. Up is down, black is white, and do not let yourself get sucked in emotionally." Barry nodded, looking a little nauseous. "Good luck." Jay said gravely.

Barry took a deep breath. "Look, if we're not back in 48 hours, it means that Zoom has us. If that happens... you've gotta close the breach."

Caitlin felt like the floor had just been dropped out from underneath her. She chomped down, _hard_ , on her lip. "We're not gonna do that."

Barry's eyes tore painfully away from her's and turned pleadingly to Joe. He nodded. "You get yourself back here in one piece, alright?" He said, grasping Barry in a tight hug. "Don't make me come and get you."

Cisco approached Caitlin, bringing her away from her boyfriend and stuffing a piece of paper into her hand. "I wrote this for my parents and Dante if I don't... come back. Please make sure this gets to them."

"Cisco, you're coming back." Caitlin insisted, brows scrunching on her forehead unhappily. She hated that she had to send her best friend and the man she loved off. She hated that she couldn't go with them.

"Caitlin." Cisco said, more serious that she had seen him in a long while. "Please."

Feeling tears start to sting, Caitlin took the note and folded it neatly to place in her pocket. "Ok. I will."

"Thank you." Cisco breathed, hugging her tightly.

She got to Barry last, and he opened up his arms for her to step into. "Be careful." She whispered, pressing her lips to his for a moment.

"Yeah." He nodded, kissing her again, wanting more time.

"You too, Harry." Caitlin said.

Harry nodded. "Snow." He shook hands with Joe and Caitlin felt Barry's arm wrap around her shoulders, tucking her into his side for a brief moment of warmth and comfort.

"I love you." He whispered in her ear.

"Come back to me." She murmured back, closing her eyes for a second and soaking as much of him in as she possibly could before he stepped back and stood with Cisco and Harry in front of the breach opening.

"Once I turn the speed cannon on, the three of you will be able to pass through unharmed." Jay said as he stood next to the controls. "Barry, you need to make sure you keep your speed up."

Barry nodded, looking unnervingly calm. Like he knew that this was either going to go well, or very, very wrong.

Cisco smacked his lips. He, on the other hand, looked like he was on the verge of a panic attack. "I- I got no spit."

"Jaws?" Harry asked.

"I-I'm not just quoting Jaws, I mean, my mouth- is really dry right now." Cisco babbled.

"Do _not_ get distracted by anything you see along the way." Jay continued, ignoring the short interruption.

Cisco turned, face pale. "What are we gonna see?"

The answer he received obviously did nothing to calm his nerves.

"Everything."

"Do it, Jay." Barry said, gripping onto Cisco and Harry. Caitlin swallowed, eyes locked on Barry's back. She might not _ever_ see him again, and the thought terrified her.

Jay pressed on the lever, and a swirling blue breach exploded into life. Barry turned and looked back only once, locking eyes with Caitlin and giving her a small smile. "Ok." He muttered, turing back to the portal. "Let's go."

With a burst of speed and a flicker of blue light, they were gone.

A second later, the entire breach machine began to shake and spark. Caitlin slowly walked foreword, trying to see what was the matter.

The next thing she knew, Jay was tackling her with a flying leap, sending her sprawling to the ground as one of the giant circles on the machine rolled off it's hinges and came crashing towards her.

Jay helped her up, looking concerned. "You ok?"

"Yeah- yeah, I'm fine." Caitlin muttered absently, still staring at the machine, now completely broken, smoke rising into the air in grey plumes.

"What happened?" Joe asked, eyes wide.

Jay frowned. "With the rest of the breaches closed, the energy surge to this last remaining breach must have destabilized it."

Caitlin turned to him, horrified. Joe looked at the both of them nervously. "What- what does that mean?"

Jay took a deep breath, his next words sending Caitlin's world crashing down on her shoulders. "As long as it remains unstable... Barry and Cisco will be trapped in there."

 **Flash!**

Once they arrived on Earth 2, it didn't take Barry long to find his doppelganger. He promptly kidnapped his awkward, nerdy counterpart and swapped places with him, clothes and all, leaving him unconscious in a closet inside STAR Labs.

When he got to the CCPD however, he was in for the surprise of his life. Not only was Captain Singh as _bad guy_ , but he discovered that Iris was a cop.

And... they were married.

Currently, he was trying to play the part of a equally excited-to-kiss-in-the-hallways husband, as Iris shoved him against the wall and kissed him like there was no tomorrow. This was- this was borderline _gross_. Iris was his _sister_! And now he had to lock lips with her?!

Caitlin's face popped into his mind. He knew that she would be fighting between laughing and yelling at him if she ever found out about this. Biting back a groan, Barry pulled away. "Uh, uh, what are you doing?"

"I don't think a little office PDA is out of order for husband and wife." Iris grinned, kissing him again as he tried to contain his grimace of disgust.

"Where is your ring?" Iris asked, picking up his hand and inspecting it. "People should know that you are a taken man." She teased.

Barry gave a weak laugh, but froze as Iris' watch beeped. It was a very familiar watch, and Barry realized with a start that it was because he had seen that same brand before. On Harry Wells.

"So weird." Iris muttered, giving her watch a look. "My metahuman alert app. It thinks that you're a metahuman." She turned a piercing gaze on Barry, one that made him squirm.

"That is so weird." Barry agreed hastily.

"Yeah, must be on the fritz." Iris shrugged and straightened his suit coat. Then she kissed him again. "Ok, let's go."

"Where are we... going?" Barry asked, unable to stop sounding so darn _clueless_. Caitlin would _definitely_ be laughing.

Iris gave him a gentle smile. "Home." She said softly, taking his hand in her own and leading him out of the CCPD.

 **Flash!**

After Barry's call with his mother, hearing her voice and her laugh and the sweet lilting tones that told him she was smiling, his heart felt small and dried. He wiped off his cheeks, trying not to imagine what it must be like for this Barry Allen. Both of his parents alive... a loving wife... a home... a family.

 _But no Caitlin_.

Swallowing, Barry yanked out his phone, searching through his photos until he found the one he wanted. Caitlin beaming, glowing face smiled up at him, her arms wrapped around his torso and head nestled in the crook of his neck. Her red-brown hair blew in the breeze, spreading across his chest and cheeks as he pressed a kiss to her curls.

He couldn't keep getting attached like this. Because if he did, he would never leave. And Caitlin needed him to come home to her.

"What's wrong, babe?" Iris asked, coming downstairs, freshly changed.

Barry stood up, stuffing his phone in his pocket and sliding his glasses onto his face. "Uh, uh, nothing. It was just... good to talk to my mom."

Iris gave him an affectionate look. "You ready to go?"

"Yeah, let's." Barry nodded and let her take his hand again. It felt strange, holding Iris' hand instead of Caitlin's. They didn't quite fit together the same way he and Caitlin did.

Once they arrived at Jitters (because, no matter what the universe, there was _always_ a Jitters), Barry got another jarring surprise. Apparently, he and Joe weren't on good terms. At all. He couldn't quite figure out _why_ , exactly, Joe hated him so much, but he thought it would be a little strange for him to ask.

The moment _she_ walked in, however, was the worst surprise of all.

Joe was crooning into Jitters' microphone, and Barry was listening with an impressed feeling at the fact that he could really sing quite well, when the door was shoved open.

Both Iris and Barry looked up, and Barry felt his blood run completely cold.

It was Caitlin.

But it _wasn't_. Her hair was shock white, lips a bright blue, and she was standing next to someone that looked exactly like Ronnie in Firestorm form. She was wearing leather all over, jacket, pants and high heeled boots, with a shirt that had a neckline so low that the real Caitlin would have been scandalized just to be caught _looking_ at it in a store.

"Don't stop singing, old man." Ronnie ordered Joe.

"That's our song." Caitlin murmured, smiling sweetly at her brother. Her _brother_. Who didn't seem to be her brother at all.

Caitlin walked slowly through the room, holding a blue lollypop in her hand and somehow making it look like the sexiest thing in the world. She surveyed all of the occupants of Jitters, sliding her eyes from one to the next. "So. Which one of you lounge lizards is in the wrong universe? Hmm? Show of hands."

She popped the lollypop off of its stick and sucked on it, still with that little smile on her face. No one moved.

Beside Barry, Iris slowly moved her hand to her purse, drawing out a gun. Suddenly feeling panicked, Barry covered her hand with his own. "Hey- hey hey, don't." He whispered, as quietly as he good.

Caitlin's doppelganger heard him anyway, and slowly turned. "Hey, handsome." She said seductively, sashaying towards him through chairs and patrons. "You got something you wanna tell me?"

Barry shook his head, unable to break his gaze. She looked so much like Caitlin that it hurt, but yet her eyes were the only thing that really remained the same. Her hair, her skin tone, the way she held herself and how she moved... all of it was different.

"No?" Caitlin let out a sigh and turned back to Ronnie with a pout. "Baby... no one's talking to me."

Barry felt a surge of disgust. Earth 2 was seriously messed up if this was how siblings interacted.

"What if I make them scream?" Ronnie offered.

He barely finished his sentence before Iris shot to her feet, gun outstretched. "CCPD!" She yelled. "Everyone get out of here."

Barry got to his feet as well as everyone in the coffee shop streamed towards the doors.

"You are both under arrest." Iris commanded, gun steady.

Ronnie and Caitlin raised their hands, looking amused. It was unnerving, and Barry knew that they had no intention of being brought in.

"Ladies first." Caitlin said, stepping foreword and holding her hands out to either side. Frost steamed from her fingertips, but Barry stepped foreword.

"Caitlin."

She froze, eyes zipping towards him. "I haven't heard that name in a long time..."

"But it is your name, isn't it?" Barry persisted, moving to block Iris with his own body. "Your real name? Please, Cait. I know you. Don't do this."

He could see her swallow, the bob of her throat and gleam in her eyes making everything else in the room fade to a blur of color. Caitlin stared into his eyes.

But then she blinked, and the spell was broken. "If you knew me at all," She hissed. "You would know that I _hate_ the name Caitlin. I'm Killer Frost."

Frost once again streamed from her hands, and Barry barely had time to move Iris to cover before a stream of icicles shot from her fingertips. They slammed into the table Barry had frantically uprighted as a shield.

"Go." He ordered Iris. "Go, go!"

Iris stumbled to her feet and ran for it, but Ronnie raised his hands and sent a bolt of flame, straight towards her.

Instead, it slammed into Joe, who had thrown himself over his daughter to protect her. He skittered and crashed against the wall, unconscious.

"DAD!" Iris screamed, running over to him and leaving Barry to watch in horror as Joe lay motionless on the floor.

He turned slowly back to the metas, then sped both of them out of Jitters and to the fields beyond. No more of his family was getting hurt tonight- Earth 2 or otherwise.

He skidded to a stop in front of the two of them, watching as Caitlin's face transformed into a wicked smile. "Well hello, breacher."

"He's a speedster, babe." Ronnie commented.

"Oh, I'm _shivering_ , I've been dying to kill the Flash." Caitlin crooned, grin growing.

Barry's skin broke into goosebumps. How different could two people who looked identical possibly be? This was the woman who had patched him up after every fight, the woman who had kissed away his tears and wrapped her arms around him when he had nightmares, the woman he loved and the woman he would _always_ love.

She... she was a killer.

"I don't want to hurt you." Barry said, heart clenching painfully in his chest.

Killer Frost smirked. "Trust me. You won't."

She sent bolt after bolt of ice shards at him, watching his lighting as it dodged and ducked every blast. Barry finally skittered to a stop.

"Kill him!" Killer Frost yelled over her shoulder.

Ronnie blasted into the air, and Barry tracked him with his eyes, ready to dodge.

He slid to the right and then to the left and then away entirely, knowing that this could go on for ages and nobody would win.

Barry sped through the streets, Firestorm/Ronnie hot on his tail. Making a quick decision, he pried the helmet off of a Jay Garrick tribute statue and held it in front of his face.

Firestorm blasted straight at him, the flame rebounding off the metal and hitting Caitlin squarely in the chest. She fell with a cry of pain and lay groaning at the top of the stairs. Barry felt like his gut was being torn in two. She was in pain and he wasn't able to go to her. She was in pain and _he had caused it_.

Firestorm was at her side in a moment, helping her to her feet. He glared at Barry. "This isn't over, breacher!"

Then the two of them were gone in a burst of flaming light.

 **Flash!**

After Joe's death left Iris brokenhearted, Barry thought it was time to start getting to work hunting Zoom. It was probably a fools mission, and most likely a trap.

But it didn't matter. They were running out of time.

Cisco came face to face with his very own doppelganger, a man by the name of Reverb, who was pretty much an evil Cisco with very gelled hair. Reverb tried to convince Cisco about what he could be- a god, leading the world with his doppelganger.

Barry was hiding in the shadows, watching the whole thing go on. His couldn't look away from Killer Frost, standing next to Firestorm with that evil smirk on her face. Her loyalty to Zoom seemed fairly unbreakable, at least by the way she was acting. It made him _sick_.

"So, _Vibe_." Reverb smiled at his counterpart and opened his arms. "Want to run Central City?"

"I say..." Cisco hesitated, so long that Barry actually started to get worried he was going to agree to the deal. "FLASH, SAVE US!"

That was Barry's cue. He flashed into the open, knocking all of Zoom's cronies to the ground with the force of his surprise attack. Reverb went down hard, and Barry flashed over to Cisco. "You're alright?"

"Yeah." He nodded, and Barry's focus trained on Iris, who had discovered Cisco the same way they had found the metas location.

"Who the heck are you?!" She asked.

"It doesn't matter." Barry tried to brush over it, knowing that she would probably not believe his answer anyway. "Detective, you need to get out of here."

"Not without them!" Iris cried, grabbing the backup gun from Cisco's hands and starting to shoot at Firestorm and Killer Frost.

One of her flaming bullets hit it's mark, and Killer Frost fell to her knees, gripping her bleeding arm. Firestorm blew up with anger, prepared to fry Iris like a hotdog. Barry flashed her out of the way just in time, yelling, "Stay here!"

Then he ran back to the open to face his enemy, an enemy that looked painfully like his friend.

"Round 2." Firestorm growled, flaming up again.

Cisco made a run for it, but his doppelganger stepped in front of his path. "Look, mirror mirror, I already told you: I'm not going to the dark side with you."

Out of nowhere, the screaming cry of Iris' partner filled the air and he jutted out his gun, firing shot after shot at Reverb. None of them hit, and the meta gave him a strange look. "You're a rotten shot."

The man, (nicknamed "deadshot" for a reason) had no time to move before Reverb sent a blast of vibe-power at his chest and sent him into the shipping crates. Reverb smirked, looking immensely cocky. "I'm not."

Cisco turned to his doppelganger, eyes huge. "Are you telling me I can do that?!"

Reverb nodded, slowly and maliciously. "I can show you."

Barry, distracted with his fight with Firestorm, was suddenly tossed across the warehouse. Cisco lurched foreword in horror, watching the vibe-blast smash into his friend. "No!" He yelled, grabbing Reverb's shoulder.

Reverb spun and punched him in the face.

Firestorm took the brief moment of the Flash's weakness to start beating him with fireballs. Barry struggled on the mat, trying to get up, but was unable to stand. Reverb joined in, sending vibe-blast after vibe-blast to smash into the speedster.

Only Killer Frost didn't join in. Still clutching her arm, she struggled to stand. "STOP, both of you!" She yelled. "Zoom wanted him alive." Neither of them listened to her, and Killer Frost got to her feet. "You know what Zoom will do if you don't obey him!"

The next thing Barry knew, Firestorm was crumpling to his knees, a black hand sticking from his chest. Killer Frost's agonized scream filled the air, heartbroken and hoarse. "NO!"

Zoom flashed himself in front of Reverb, no longer looking very cocky. "What... did I say to do," He growled. "If you encountered a speedster?"

"Leave him unharmed." Reverb muttered, eyes on the floor.

Zoom turned a slow finger and pointed at Barry. "Does this... look... _unharmed_ to you?" He whipped back to Reverb and slammed his hand through his heart.

Reverb let out a pained cry, and then fell to the floor, dead.

Zoom went next to Killer Frost, grabbing her by the throat and lifting her off the ground. Barry twisted on the mat, trying to stand. Trying to help.

"I'm happy to see at least one of you knows there place." Zoom hissed. Just before Killer Frost blacked out from lack of oxygen, he dropped her to the ground. She coughed and spluttered, rolling to her side.

The sound of speed filled the air, and when Cisco blinked, Zoom was gone.

And so was Barry.

 **Flash!**

Barry woke up slowly, his head aching. He found himself lying on the floor of a cell, with a loud pounding filled the air.

Startled and unable to remember what happened at first, he jolted to his feet, pressing on the glass frantically. His eyes roamed the room, stopping when they reached a man in a metal mask. His fists pounded the glass, but it didn't seem desperate. It seemed more like a code.

Barry squinted, and then his eyes caught another figure, slumped in a cage. "Jesse?" He cried, moving as far as his cage would allow him to. "Jesse! I'm here with your dad!" He had no idea if she could hear him, but she moved from her first position looking at him with a confused expression. "We're gonna get you out of here, alright? I promise?"

Jesse moved back abruptly, tears welling in her eyes as a familiar black figure flashed into the room. He stood in front of Barry's cage, blue lighting swirling. "It is not wise... to make promises... you can't keep." Zoom growled, and Barry felt a familiar swirling of panic making it's way into his chest.

He took an involuntary step back, instincts screaming at him to _run_. "Flash..." Zoom continued. "Look around. This is the last place... you'll _ever_ see."

 **Author's Note: GAH! Part 2 will be up ASAP! That was a wicked awesome episode, right? I'm pleased with that one :)**

 **Sorry about all of the dot-dot-dots. I know it's kinda annoying. But seriously; that's how he talks! :P**


	14. 2x14

**Author's Note: I AM AWFUL AND POSTING AND I'M SO SORRY.**

 **At least it's easier to write Snowbarry realistically when don't have Julian and Caitlin's hopeless romance staring at me every Tuesday XD**

 **Problem with this episode was that Barry wasn't in it much in the beginning. So I'll put a little bit of his time in Zoom's lair, before the rest of the team comes to get him.**

Barry was trapped in a glass cage, feeling like an animal on show at a zoo.

Zoom was long gone. He had left Jesse sobbing quietly to herself in the corner of her captivity, her dirty arms chained to the wall. Barry tried to reason with her but she just looked at him like he was insane.

"We're not getting out of here."

He had reconciled her a little when he stopped trying to be hopefully, and they had worked together to figure out what the man in the metal mask was trying to say. Jesse came up with the alphabet idea, crossing taps with letters until they spelled a word.

 _JAY_.

It unnerved Barry down to his very core. What did he want with Jay Garrick?

Before he could get an answer, Zoom arrived at the scene. He glared at the man in the mask. "Don't talk to them again."

Then he face Barry's cage, and fazed through the glass. Barry stepped back, feeling trapped.

The next thing he knew, Zoom's hand was at his throat. Barry stared him down. "I'm going to get out of here." He threatened. "And when I do, I'm going to destroy you."

"All I need from you is your speed, _Flash_." Zoom growled. "And you only have to be barely alive to give it to me."

Zoom attacked him with a force that sent him flying against the glass of his cage. He was beaten mercilessly for what felt like hours, unable to fight back, unable to even keep his feet. Jesse's scream for Zoom to stop were the only sound in the air other then Zoom's fist's into Barry's stomach, his face, his chest.

Once Zoom had left, he slunk to the corner of his cage, aching and wiping blood from his nose. He sat for a long time, mind lost inside his own head. He wondered where his team was, in Zoom had left Cisco alive, if he had found Harry, if Iris and the Earth 2 Barry had finally been told the truth. He wondered what Caitlin was up to on Earth 1, whether she was thinking about him right now, wondering what was taking him so long. He wondered if he would be able to escape before his allotted 48 hours was up. He wondered if he'd ever see her again.

He tried to escape a few times, using his speed to faze through the wall, just as Zoom had. He found he couldn't. He couldn't even vibrate. There must have been some sort of power dampening on the cage, something that was stopping him from accessing his speed.

Finding himself beginning to get hungry, Barry stopped his efforts and crawled back to the corner of his cage, head dropping between his knees in defeat. He didn't know how long it was until he heard a very familiar voice calling his name.

 _Cisco_.

Barry stumbled to his feet and pressed his hands against the glass. Cisco beamed back at him. "Cisco." Barry muttered.

"Dude..." Cisco grinned. "We made it."

"How did you find this place?" Barry asked incredulously.

Cisco stepped back a little and nodded back towards the group of people that had also entered Zoom's lair. "I had some help."

And there she was. White hair and blue lipstick but Caitlin all the same. And now he was sure that her heart was Caitlin's, too. Because if it wasn't, she wouldn't have helped his friends. She wouldn't have betrayed Zoom.

"Don't even get me started on this guy." Cisco groaned, gesturing the Earth 2 Barry, who smiled and waved awkwardly. Cisco rolled his eyes exaggeratedly. "Oh boy."

Harry shoved past Earth 2 Barry and Iris and strode towards his daughter with a disbelieving look on his face. Jesse pressed to the edge of her cell bars, eyes filling with tears at the sight of her father.

Harry wrenched the cell door upward and wrapped Jesse in a hug. Barry blinked back tears, feeling all of Wells' happiness and relief rolling off him in waves. Cisco sent him another grin, nodding his approval.

When the two of them pulled apart, Harry inspected the chain binding Jesse's wrist. He tugged on it a few times, but it wouldn't move. Harry locked eyes with the white haired woman standing behind the rest of the group.

"Frost."

Caitlin just raised her eyebrows, and Cisco let out an annoyed sigh. He seemed to be taking the sight of his best friend's evil nature pretty well. "A little help?"

"Not part of the deal." Killer Frost shrugged.

"FROST!" Harry bellowed, worry and stress mixing into rage.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Barry yelled, stopping the argument that was about to break out.

"Bringing us here wasn't part of the deal either, but here you are." Cisco said, glaring Frost down. "Something tells me you're not as cold as I thought you are."

That seemed to break down her walls, just a little. She strode towards Jesse and Harry, taking her eyes of off Barry. "Maybe. Maybe not."

Jesse chain's froze and shattered the minute Frost touched them, and then she turned to Barry's cage. She held out her hands, ready to freeze the glass and break it in the same way.

Nothing happened.

"What's going on- why isn't it working?" Iris asked.

"I don't- know!" Caitlin growled in frustration. "I'v never had this problem before." She stepped back and dropped her arms, the pit in Barry's stomach growing.

He couldn't get out.

"Dr. Wells?" Barry asked, looking for at least an explanation.

Harry stepped away from his daughter's embraced and looked over the containment. "Carbine." Her muttered. "It's a form of carbine. The cell's made of some sort of carbine- you'll never be able to freeze him out of there."

"You can't faze outta there?" Cisco asked desperately.

Barry's hands dropped to his side and he shook his head. He knew what he had to do.

"Just go. Alright? Before Zoom comes back." He swallowed, knowing that if they left, he would never escape. But he could _not_ be the reason they got caught.

"We're not leaving you here!" Cisco protested, but Harry was nodding and wrapping his arm around Jesse. Killer Frost had already turned around and was moving towards the door.

"I can't get out of this cell." Barry told him, shaking his head. "I've tried. A lot. I'm not fast enough to faze through this. You've got-" His voice broke. "Just leave, alright?"

Cisco gritted his teeth, glancing at the others and knowing that there was no other choice.

Barry locked eyes with him. "Cisco... tell Caitlin I love her, ok?" Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Killer Frost stop moving. "Tell her-" He couldn't say anything else.

"Yeah." Cisco nodded, gulping. "Yeah, yeah, I'll tell her."

"No."

Barry looked up as his Earth 2 counterpart strode foreword, face determined. "Do you know what we did, to get here, Barry? We convinced _her_ ," He jabbed a finger at Caitlin. "Killer Frost, to show us the way. Then we climbed some... _insanely_ steep cliffs outside, on foot holes made of ice. And all of use risked our lives, knowing Zoom was after us, to rescue Jesse and you." He paused, boring his gaze into Barry's. "Now, I don't know you. And you don't know me. But I can tell you that today I- I did things that I never thought possible. Because I needed to prove to my wife- and to _myself_ that I could. And now if I can do the impossible today... so can you."

Barry shook his head, at a loss for words. The other Barry took a deep breath. "I'm just Barry Allen. But you're the Flash."

An image filled his mind. It was his favorite one of Caitlin, where she was grinning somewhere the camera wasn't pointing. She didn't know he was taking the picture and she looked so perfectly beautiful that it made his heart clench just thinking about it.

Barry raised his hand, keeping her face in his head. He would see her again. He had promised her.

His hand began to vibrate.

Barry exchanged looks with the rest of his team. Cisco, looking pained and upset, Barry and Iris, standing next to each other and waiting for him to get himself out. Harry, his arm still around Jesse. She smiled at him, believing at him.

And Killer Frost, watching him with brown eyes _so much_ like Caitlin's.

With one burst of concentrated speed that almost _hurt_ he was going to fast, Barry pressed through the glass and to the other side.

Cisco's mouth dropped open and he broke into a wild grin. "Ok, let's go."

"Wait, wait, hey hey hey!" Barry commanded. "We're not leaving him." He pressed his hand against the glass of the man in the metal mask.

"Barry, there's no time." Harry protested.

There wasn't. A flash of blue light and Jesse's horrified gasp later, and Zoom stood in front of them. "He's not going _anywhere_... And neither are any of you."

Harry blocked Jesse with his body, gun held up in front of him. It would be completely useless against Zoom, however, and all of them knew it.

"Thank you..." Zoom growled, his gaze shifting to Killer Frost. She looked at the ground. "For bringing them to me."

Barry's heart dropped. She had set them up. It was all a trap.

"You double crossed us?" Cisco cried, looking hurt and angry. "He _killed_ Ronnie!"

Killer Frost turned her back. "I guess my heart is as cold as you thought after all." She said.

"I can't believe you." Cisco hissed. "The Caitlin we know would be _very_ disappointed in you right now."

Barry took a step foreword, trying to ignore the hurt from Caitlin's betrayal. "Zoom." He said. "Let them go."

Harry stepped up, too, joining them. "All you need is me and Barry." He told the creature in black.

"You're right..." Zoom growled. "I may not be able to kill you yet, but I _can_ kill them." He raised a leather-clad finger and pointed at the rest of their team. Then he flashed off, knocking Harry and Barry to the ground and grabbing Jesse by her hair and holding her roughly at his side.

"I told you I'd kill you in front of your father." Zoom growled at her.

"No-" Harry choked out. "NO!"

Zoom raised a slow, vibrating hand and aimed it at Jesse's chest. Barry's heart stopped, unable to do anything.

A blast of icy frost shot toward Zoom and knocked him backwards. "Get out of here." Frost said, striding toward her old master with a fury that matched nothing Barry had ever seen. She held out her hands again and held her icy rays onto Zoom, stopping him from standing.

"Caitlin?" Cisco breathed.

"You were right." Killer Frost glared over her shoulder at them, but her anger wasn't directed at Cisco. "He killed Ronnie."

Barry swallowed, watching her face transform into something he recognized. Something beautiful and powerful and wholly Caitlin. He looked at her with a sad expression on his face, knowing that she was sacrificing her life to save theirs.

She caught him looking. "Go. Get back to- to your Caitlin." Her voice broke, remembering the love that she would never get back with Ronnie.

"Thank you." Barry whispered, almost reaching out to brush her shoulder but holding back.

With one last look behind him, he ran after the others.

 **Flash!**

Barry took turns flashing everyone back to their STAR Labs headquarters. He brought Harry in last, releasing him to run to his daughter and hug her. Then he strode over to Iris and Earth 2 Barry, standing next to each other.

"You two need to get out of Central City. Any place you think you'll be safe from Zoom." He instructed.

"Yeah, yeah, we have some... family, in Atlantis, that could help us." Iris nodded. Earth 2 Barry rubbed her arm, nodding with that same nervous energy that seemed to invade all of his actions.

"Yeah, ok, good." Barry said. He turned to his doppelganger. "I know that you didn't get struck by lightning over here like I was, but today, you risked your life to save somebody you didn't even know. That's a hero, Barry. Thank you both."

Earth 2 Barry looked at his feet for a moment, his eyes going a little wet. He nodded.

"Barry." Iris said, her voice stopping him from turning away. "Is my father... still alive on your Earth?"

Barry froze, having somehow forgotten about Earth 2 Joe's fate. "Yeah... yeah, he is." He was suddenly overwhelmed with an intense feeling of homesickness, an aching to get back to his correct Earth. To his family. To Caitlin.

"Give him a hug for me, will you?" Iris asked quietly.

Barry nodded, swallowing. "I will."

Cisco and Barry made their way towards where they would be opening a breach, with Harry and Jesse close behind. The last two were forced to come back to Earth 1, with nowhere else to go where Zoom wouldn't find them.

An alert went off as they were collecting their things, and Barry rushed after his friends, knowing Zoom was close.

Back in Earth 1, Iris was glued to her phone. "It's almost time." She breathed, watching the clock countdown for the heroes return.

"I don't care what time it is." Joe muttered. "After all we did to stabilize this breach, we're not closing it until they're here. You all hear me?"

Caitlin nodded immediately, unable to deal with the thought that Barry and Cisco would be stuck on that Earth forever, because of them.

Joe stood in front of the open breach, arms crossed in wait. Caitlin drummed her fingers on her control board, holding her breath. Where _were_ they?

With a flash of light, two figures appeared in front of the breach. "Cisco!" Joe yelled. Cisco patted himself down, looking surprised to find he was all in one piece.

Next to him was a girl with brown hair, looking bedraggled and dirty. Caitlin's breath caught. It was Jesse. They had done it.

"Get ready to close the breach- we're good- Zoom's coming!" Cisco yelled frantically, darting down the steps to the main floor of the room and towards the rest of his team.

The rest of them stood frozen in wait. Caitlin couldn't take her eyes off of the breach, even as she squeezed Cisco's hand, relieved beyond belief to have him home. The clock ticked down, faster... faster... faster.

"It shouldn't be taking this long..." Cisco murmured nervously.

Jay hovered at the edge of the breach, holding the closing device like a football he was about to make a touchdown with. He would throw it in the second someone told him to... or when the clock ran out.

Caitlin's hands started to shake. Where were they?

Abruptly, a breach burst into the containment field and Harry and Barry hopped through. Caitlin gasped in surprise, an uncontrollable smile blooming across her face as Barry yelled at Jay. "Close it- close it now!"

Jay lobed the breach-closer through the whole, and everything went began to flicker.

Caitlin raced down the steps and grabbed Barry's arm. "You did it- you made it!"

She noticed a shadow cross his face as he rested his gaze on her, but he hugged her just the same. She might've been imagining things, but his hug seemed a little _too_ tight, a little _too_ long. Something had happened. Something to do with her. Jay was standing out front of the breach, grinning at all of them. Barry frowned at him, and the still-flickering blue mass behind him. He was about to tell him to move, just in case, when a leather-clad hand gave driving through the breach.

And straight through Jay's heart.

Caitlin froze in Barry's arms, a scream ripping out of her mouth: "NO!"

Before any of them could move, Jay was dragged through the breach and the whole thing closed with a flicker of blue light.

The bunker was completely silent, everyone staring at the spot where Jay had just been. No body moved for a very long time.

Caitlin made the first nose, a sob breaking out from her mouth. Barry wrapped her in his arms, glaring over her head at Harry. "Open it back up! NOW!"

"Allen- it's not- it's not possible." Harry ground out. He looked just as upset as the rest of them, even though he had been known to hate Jay with every fiber of his being. "The breaches energy prevents it from every being open again. Now that they're all closed... We're stuck here."

Jesse whipped to her father, face a mask of anger. "What?! We're stuck here _forever_?! What about my friends? But what about my life?"

"You don't _have_ a life, Jesse!" Wells roared, grief and fear bubbling into anger. "Zoom took that from you the second he kidnapped you. This is the only place we'll ever be safe. The only place _you'll_ ever be safe."

Jesse let out a puff of frustration, storming out of the room.

Barry tugged Caitlin tighter, feeling her trembling against his chest. "It could have been you." She croaked. "It could have been you standing there, or Cisco. Zoom wouldn't have cared."

Standing a few feet back, Iris buried her face in Cisco's shoulder, biting down on her lip. Cisco reached around and tentatively stroked her hair, not used to having a girl in his arms that wasn't just in for the kissing. Joe placed his hand on Iris' back, jaw tense.

Losing Jay was like losing a limb. He was a member of their team, a trusted person allowed into their tight circle to fight crime and save the world.

And now... now he was gone.

 **Author's Note: Yeah, still don't like him. Great thing for me is- he's Zoom! Hahahahaha.**

 **Anyone catch that little hint of Cisco/Iris? I listen to you guys, I really do!**


	15. 2x15

**Author's Note: GUYS I AM SO SORRY I AM SUCH A BAD UPDATER.**

 **That is all.**

Caitlin and Barry didn't sleep that night. He arrived at her apartment in a baggy shirt and sweatpants, and she let him in without a word.

They went out on her small balcony, where a couch swing was swaying slightly back and forth in the breeze. Caitlin sat on it, and Barry took his place beside her, laying down so she could rest snuggled up next to him.

"I thought you weren't coming back." Caitlin whispered. It was the first thing she had said since he arrived. "You had 13 seconds, Barry, until your 48 hours was up."

Barry held her closer, shutting his eyes and breathing in the scent of her long curls. "I'm never going to leave you." He whispered.

"Promise?"

"I promise." He said, and meaning it 100%.

They weren't very well rested when they got to STAR Labs the next morning, but none of the team really seemed to be. Barry was glad that topic of Earth 2 hadn't come up last night. That morning, Harry pulled him and Cisco aside, making them swear not to say a _word_ of what happened on Earth 2 to the rest of the team. It was for all of their benefits.

Things were subdued. Cisco sat in his chair and stared blankly at his computer screen, swiveling slowly from side to side and not taking in a word of what he was reading. Caitlin curled up in Barry's lap in the gurney and shut her eyes, and Harry paced back and forth, not quite sure what to do.

"Can't believe I'm saying this." Cisco said, breaking the silence for the first time in at least a half hour. "But it would actually be pretty nice to have a metahuman attack right now." Caitlin sat up and gave him a look. "Hey, anything is better then _this_!" Cisco exclaimed.

"You can't even talk." Caitlin shot back.

Barry gave her a confused look. "Cait, Cisco was friends with Jay, too-"

She cut him off, shooting out of his lap and striding to sit in her own chair. He frowned, and Harry watched them with an unreadable look. Cisco's eyes widened. "What's- what's the date today, Caitlin?"

Her lower lip wobbled in answer, and she abruptly opened her computer and began to type, ignoring him.

Barry looked, if possible, even more confused. "The date? What does the date have to do with anything?"

"Dude." Cisco gave him a look, one that was weirdly disgusted. "That's not funny."

Not Barry was looking alarmed. "I don't- I don't-"

"Leave him alone, Cisco." Caitlin muttered, eyes on her now still hands. "I never told him."

"Told me what?!" Barry was on his feet now, looking between Caitlin and Cisco. "What's going on?"

"You didn't tell him?!" Cisco cried, completely ignoring Barry. "He's your boyfriend, and you've known him for years! How could you possibly _not_ tell him?"

"I didn't come up, ok?" Caitlin yelled, tears welling up in her eyes. "I don't know, maybe I just wanted someone to treat me like I was normal and not look at me with pity every time this date rolls around!"

Barry slammed his hands against the table, and everyone in the room jumped. He glared at his two friends. "What are you two talking about?!"

"My dad died today, 16 years ago." Caitlin said in a rush. "Ok? Big secret, it's out, _thank you_ Cisco."

"You're welcome, Caitlin." He shot back, sounding like he actually meant it.

Barry looked at her, eyes dark and hurt. "I- I can't believe you wouldn't tell me something like that. Something that important."

Her gaze dropped, a tear rolling down her cheek. Then she gathered up her bag, closed her computer, and ran out of the room. Barry let out a heavy sigh. "I'll go after her."

"No." Cisco cut him off. "Let me do it."

Before Barry could protest, he turned and ran after his best friend.

Harry let out a heavy sigh. "Well. There's another thing we can "thank" Garrick for. The stress of his death might very well tear your little team apart."

Barry glared at him, furious. But then his gaze softened and his sank into a chair. "I just can't believe... I can't believe she wouldn't tell me."

"I can." Harry deadpanned. "She probably knew you would react like this, if she told you a week after you started dating or a year. You have a tendency to... overreact."

That said, he picked up his backpack and headed down the corridor to his room.

Cisco had set off in the opposite direction. He knew that Caitlin would be heading to the Pipeline. It was both her and Barry's "getaway place", which made it remarkably easy to find them when they stormed off (not that he was usually the one following).

She looked up when he came in, then turned away. "Expecting Barry?" Cisco asked, sliding down to sit beside her.

"I'm kind of glad it's you." Caitlin sighed, resting her head on his shoulder. "I love Barry- I do- but sometimes he can... you know."

"Be Barry." Cisco finished. "I know."

They sat in silence for awhile, Caitlin shutting her eyes and letting her exhaustion settle over her like a heavy blanket. She hadn't had a proper nights sleep in over 72 hours, and it was really starting to catch up to her.

"You should have told him, though." Cisco murmured, suddenly breaking the peaceful silence.

"I know." Caitlin whispered, her voice cracking. "But what with- with- Jay... and Zoom... and this time last year, he was dealing with Mardin and erasing time and all of that... the time just never seemed right."

"Would you have told him?" Cisco asked bluntly. "Would you have told him about your father if I hadn't brought it up?"

"Yes!" Caitlin protested, sitting upright and away from him with a fiercely hurt look in her eyes. "Of course I would have."

The fire in her gaze made Cisco pause, his memory flashing abruptly back to a very similar look on a white haired, blue lipped woman's face. For a moment, Caitlin's face slipping away and was replaced by Killer Frost, glaring at him with icy cold eyes.

He startled backward, his heart pounding wildly, and shot to his feet. "I-I-I have to go."

"Wait, what?" Caitlin, suddenly Caitlin again, stared up at him in surprise. "I don't understand."

But Cisco was already sprinting at full speed out of the Pipeline, unable to get the image of Killer Frost out of his head.

 **Flash!**

Things were... uncomfortable between Barry and Caitlin, to put it nicely. They gave each other tight smiles upon Caitlin's reentry to the Cortex, then didn't make eye contact for the rest of the afternoon. Barry was still hurt Caitlin hadn't told him about her father, and Caitlin felt both bad and defensive about her decision.

Barry left for the West's early afternoon after getting a call from Joe. "Wally wants to show me his college project or something. Call me if anything interesting happens, ok?"

Cisco was still giving Caitlin strange looks, looks that only intensified after the Wests were attacked by King Shark and the two of them went on an investigation to a shark aquarium to do some research. Caitlin didn't totally blame him; she was _very_ on edge, tired and stressed and upset about both Jay and Barry. She had been pretty rude to the aquarium tour guide, and now she was searching through some useless information on sharks and it was driving her _insane_.

"This is a complete waste of time." Caitlin grumped. "We're not gonna find anything in Dr. Lambdon's research to tell us how to find King Shark."

"Maybe I should take a look?" Cisco offered, walking down the steps from her lab.

"Oh, yeah, because you're the doctor with the specialty in bio-chem." Caitlin rolled her eyes. She was still upset about him running away from her in the Pipeline, when all she had needed was a hug, and _not_ a lecture.

Cisco's face pinched. It was obvious he was trying to keep his temper. "I'm just saying _maybe_ you could use another set of eyes. Considering-" He broke off.

Caitlin's turned a slow glare to him. "Considering _what_?"

"Considering the way you've been acting lately." Cisco said in a rush.

Caitlin's back straightened, defensiveness shooting through her blood. "What does that mean?"

"You are not yourself, Caitlin. And it's _freaking_ me out, cuz you have this icy look in your eyes just like you did over there."

Caitlin's gaze narrowed. "Over there?" Cisco didn't reply, but she could see on his face that he had just given away something that he wasn't supposed to. "You mean... Earth 2?"

"No." Cisco shook his head, standing up slowly as she moved out of her chair like a shark after it's pray. "No! Uh, um, what I- what I meant to say- was, um.."

"You met my doppelganger." Caitlin accused, walking slowly around her desk and towards his retreating form. "Didn't you?"

Cisco released a nervous laugh. "Haha- _what_? No!"

"Cisco..."

"Look, I'm not supposed to say anything." He muttered urgently.

"Why?"

"Because I'm _not supposed to say anything_." Cisco snapped.

Caitlin glared down at him, using both her height advantage and the little bit of fear that she knew Cisco held in his heart for her to her advantage. "Francisco Ramon. If you don't start talking-"

"Okay!"

Caitlin smirked, pleased. She knew he was going to break. She just hadn't thought it would be that easy.

"Fine." Cisco glared fearfully at her. "Ok. Yes. I met your doppelganger. She's a cold hearted ice queen named Killer Frost- a metahuman who enjoyed killing. A lot." Cisco let out a huge gush off air, obviously relieved to have all of that off of his chest. "There. Great. Now Harry's gonna kill me and throw my stuff across the room."

"Cisco." Caitlin felt a mix of fear and betrayal swirling in her chest. "I'm not a metahuman."

"Okay, I hear you, but you're acting just like she did over there. You're being shut off. You're being detached. You're being cold."

Caitlin gave him a sad smile. "Because I have to be right now." She said, tears welling in her eyes. "I just watched Jay get killed _right in front of my eyes_. That could have been you, Cisco. It could have been _Barry_. And now I've hurt the love of my life by not telling him about my father. When I need him the most... he's not here. And because I didn't know about this- I couldn't be there for him. If I let all of that pain and frustration out it's _never_ going to stop. So let's just get back to this research, and find King Shark."

 **Flash!**

Barry called her not even 20 minutes after her talk with Cisco. She wondered briefly if Cisco had told him that she knew about doppelganger, but her question was answered by the first words he said.

"We need to talk."

She met up with him at the West's, the roof still busted open and dust littering the floor of their home. Barry greeted her at the door with a tight hug, and Caitlin sighed into his plaid shirt, his arms feeling warm and tight and comforting.

"Ok." Joe interrupted them, gesturing for Barry to sit and taking a seat for himself, Iris close behind. "What happened with you on Earth 2? The truth."

Barry's gaze dropped. He knew this was coming- that's why he had called Caitlin. She deserved to know as much as his family did. "I shouldn't- tell you guys this... but... I met your doppelgangers."

Caitlin's eyes dropped to her hands. Barry took a deep breath, glancing at Iris. "You were the cop in the family- a good one, too."

Iris laughed incredulously, disbelieving. "I told you I would have made a good cop." She said to Joe.

Her father shook his head. "Don't get any ideas." He nodded at Barry. "What about me, then?"

"You were a lounge singer." Barry told him, smiling a little as he remembered. "Yeah, you had this amazing voice, actually. But you didn't like me- at all. You actually blamed me for Iris becoming a cop."

Caitlin could see his eyes getting red as he smiled at his sister. There was obviously something he wasn't saying. "You said that she only became one to help her selfish husband's career."

Caitlin's blood froze. Iris took a heavy seat. "Wait... we were married?"

Barry nodded, giving her an apologetic smile. "Earth 2... Earth 2 was weird."

He stared back down at his hands, continuing his story. "We went to go see Joe perform. And that's when everything went wrong. Um... some metas that, uh, worked for Zoom..." Now he trailed off, his gaze locking with Caitlin's. "You... you and- and Ronnie."

Caitlin swallowed thickly. She felt Joe rest his hand on her knee and gave him a grateful smile.

"They... showed up. They were looking for me. They knew that I wasn't supposed to be there, and they attacked, and..." He moved his eyes away from Caitlin, looking back at Joe. "You got caught in the crossfire. And-" His voice wavered. "You died."

Caitlin felt like lead had settled in her veins. She covered her mouth with her hand, unable to look at anyone in the room. She and Ronnie had _killed_ Joe. How could they others even bare to _look_ at her?

"I know that it wasn't you." Barry was still staring at Joe, but Caitlin had the distinct feeling he was talking to her. "That none of that was my life, but... Watching it happen in front of me- _living that_ \- it didn't feel any different because... it was all still real." Barry was full out crying now, his eyes red and wet. "And Jay warned me not get emotionally sucked in when I went there, and then... that's exactly what happened. And now Joe West on Earth 2 is dead. Because I showed up."

Joe shook his head. "Baer... that's- that's not your fault."

"Yeah, it is my fault." Barry argued. "It's all my fault. Zoom. This... King Shark. Jay's death. It's all because of me. And then I just... left an entire world at Zoom's mercy."

The lead in Caitlin's chest was turning to hot lava. She needed to get out of that house, but one look at Barry's face told her that he needed her right now. More then she needed space.

Caitlin eased herself onto the step beside him as he put his head in his hands, hiding his face. "Hey." She whispered, reaching around his back to run her palm along his opposite shoulder. "Hey, none of this is on you. We save the world as a team, and we make mistakes as a team, too. This is on all of us, so don't you dare go and be a blame hog."

Barry sniffled out a laugh, resting his head on his shoulder. "I'm sorry." He murmured. "That I didn't tell you about Killer Frost before."

"That's alright." Caitlin sighed, combing her fingers through his hair. Joe nodded at Iris and the two of them helpfully left the room, letting them talk in private on the West's staircase. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you about my father."

He nodded, banding his arm around her waist. Caitlin smiled. "To tell you the truth- and don't get mad at him for it- Cisco actually told me about Killer Frost a little bit ago. Granted... I scared him into it with glares and unspoken threats, but he deserved it. He thinks I'm _turning into her_ , just because I'm... you know."

Barry gave her a shocked look. "What is he talking about? You could never become Killer Frost. Though... if it makes you feel any better-" His voice broke off. "She- she saved us in the end. Helped us all escape and then stopped Zoom from following us. We- We just left her there. I don't know what happened to her. For all I know... she could be dead."

"She's not me, Barry." Caitlin breathed. "She might look like me, and she might act like me, but I'm still here. I'm still alive."

Barry nodded tightly, but he didn't look very reassured. He just held her tighter, waiting for his tears to stop so he could keep pushing on.

 **Flash!**

Barry came to STAR Labs to keep her company after his confession about Earth 2. He seemed in better spirits, maybe not quite smiling yet, but at least not with that heavy weight over him anymore.

"I was thinking." He started, sitting down on top of her desk so she had no choice but to look up at him. "I think that you may just need to take a little bit of revenge on Cisco."

"On Cisco?" Caitlin frowned, confused. "Whatever for?"

"For thinking that you could turn into Killer Frost!" Barry exclaimed, with a heavy note of "duh" leveling his tone. "That's positively ridiculous."

Caitlin sighed, shutting off her computer so she could give him her full attention. "Barry... he was just scared. I sure he doesn't _actually_ think I could turn into Killer Frost."

"Maybe not." Barry got a devious smirk on his face. "But I dare you to go up to Cisco and pretend to be Killer Frost. Maybe... mention that you hate your name -she did- and hold some ice for a few second to get your hands nice and cold."

"You dare me?" Caitlin couldn't hold in a giggle. "How old are you- 10?"

"That a yes?" Barry pressed.

She hesitated, but then she saw how hopefully he looked, with that adorable little smile playing over his lips, and she couldn't let him down. "Fine- _fine_ \- I'll do it."

"Yes!" He jumped off her desk and gave her a hug. "Your the best."

"Love you, too." Caitlin smiled, shaking her head. "Now enough of this nonsense; we need to find King Shark."

 **Flash!**

Using parameters, some research that Caitlin had, in fact, unearthed from Dr. Lambdon's notes, and Diggle and Lyla's help, they set a trap for King Shark.

Caitlin went with Barry, needing to have someone there to keep an eye on the scanners and the lure (a fake Flash, poised on a buoy) with Barry. And anyway, the two of them were positively inseparable at the moment. There was no _way_ she was going to let him go fight a giant shark after seeing Jay die, and experiencing the panic that he might never return from Earth 2.

They used the time to talk. Barry, in true Barry form, was still beating himself up. "Jay's death was all my fault." He said softly. "I'm so sorry."

Caitlin let out a sigh, knowing by now that arguing with him again wouldn't change what he thought. "We're going to be ok." She said simply. " _You're_ going to be ok. Think of this as your first walk." Then she grinned. "Or swim."

Barry smiled back at her, rolling his eyes at her cheesiness.

Cisco's voice broke through the coms. "Guys, incoming! He's headed for the bait!"

Caitlin's eyes shot down to her tablet, where a giant form was cutting through the water. The two of them glued their eyes to the buoy, watching the plastic "Flash" sway in the water's current.

Suddenly, a half-human shark jumped out of the water and grabbed the life-size figurine in it's mouth, splashing back down to the water and disappearing under it's surface.

Caitlin couldn't hold in a grin. There plan had worked. "He ate the lure!"

Barry smiled back, then gestured to Diggle. "Let's reel him in, alright?" He ordered. Diggle got to work on the mechanical rope, sending it rolling back up into it's coil.

When the plastic flash finally bobbed to the surface, everyone on the dock froze. It was in pieces.

And King Shark was nowhere to be seen.

"Where'd he go?!" John yelled, sounding unnerved.

"He's headed for the docks!" Cisco reported and Caitlin felt a shoot of icy fear running through her blood. Barry pressed a hand to her back, urging her to run.

She kept her eyes on the heat signatures in the water as she moved, watching the looming shape of King Shark shoot through it and toward them.

There plan _hadn't_ , in fact, worked.

"Get ready to fire!" Barry commanded Diggle and Lyla, who both raised their guns.

With an explosion of water, King Shark leapt out of the depths, mouth open. Diggle and Lyla opened fire on him, bullets bouncing off his think metahuman hide.

"Bullets won't stop me, Flash." Growled King Shark in his garbled, fishy voice. "First I'll kill you. Then I'll kill them!"

"Oh yeah?!" Barry yelled back, obviously scared, but doing a good job at hiding it. "Let's do this thing then!"

He flashed off across the water, King Shark diving into follow. Caitlin bit her lip. The water was where sharks belonged, and that became apparent as Zoom's crony began to gain on the scarlet speedster.

The two of them danced around each other over the icy blue depths, until Barry began to flash in a frantic circle around his enemy, faster and faster until the water around him was electrified. Then Barry extended his arm and sent a single well-aimed bolt, straight at King Shark's chest.

The meta let out a groan of agony and slowly began to sink to the ocean floor, dead.

Barry flashed back to the dock and leaned over with his hands on his knees, panting heavily. He grinned at Diggle, allowing Caitlin to run up to him and hug him tightly. "Now we can reel him in."

 **Flash!**

"Hail hail, the gangs all here." Cisco walked into the Cortex with Caitlin close behind him, smiling around. "What's going on?"

Barry was in the front of the room, standing close to a display case covered with a white sheet. "Uh... I- I need to apologize to you all. Last year... I made a choice to go back in time... and save my mother. And that choice had a lot of consequences that will haunt me for the rest of my life, just like I know it haunts all of you, too. Zoom... Jay's death... it's all because of me. But I own those choices. We're the ones that opened the door to Earth 2; we're the ones that brought Zoom here. But _we_ are also the ones that are gonna stop him."

Barry paused for a moment, letting it sink in with his group. Caitlin bit her lip, a love so intense bubbling up inside of her that it was all she could do not to scream or break down in sobs.

"How?" Harry asked in a barely audible whisper. "How are we going to stop Zoom, Allen?"

Barry shrugged, shaking his head. "I don't know yet." He said, brutally honest. "But those breaches aren't closed forever, and we're not done with Earth 2."

He walked over to the display and pulled the sheet off of the case. Underneath was a familiar gleaming metal helmet.

 _Jay's_ helmet.

"Jay's death was not in vain." Barry said. "We _will_ meet Zoom again- and the next time? I will beat him, whoever that monster is."

Cisco took a shaky breath and nodded, and Caitlin followed suit. Barry turned his gaze back to the group, and his hand hovered for a moment by his pocket.

"If I've learned anything over the last few years, is that life is _precious_." He was looking only at Caitlin now and she _knew_ , somehow she _knew_ what was coming. "It's fragile and it can be gone in a second. It can disappear the moment you close your eyes so you need to take every opportunity you can to embrace it. To _love_ it. So that's why..."

Someone was pushing her foreword, around the desk, and Barry dropped to his knee. Caitlin let out a strangled gasp, tears springing into her eyes and rolling down her cheeks as he pulled out a small velvet box.

"That's why I'm not going to go another second without asking you this." His eyes bored into her's; green and beautiful, sparkling with love. "Caitlin Snow: I have loved you since the moment we met, when I woke up from my coma and you told me to pee in a cup."

Caitlin choked out a sob-laugh and covered her mouth with her hand. "You had to bring that up, didn't you?"

"Yeah." Barry breathed, nodding and wiping his cheeks on the back of his arm. "I'm never going to stop loving you, no matter what happens. So Caitlin Snow... will you marry me?"

"Yes." Caitlin whispered, dropping to her knees. "I- _Yes_ , a million times yes Barry Allen."

Iris, Joe, Harry, Jesse and Cisco all exploded into cheers and applause as Barry slid the ring onto her finger and jumped upright. He pulled her into a hug and Caitlin hid her wet face in his shoulder, laughing and crying and hugging him as tight as she could.

He kissed her before they were swept up by their rejoicing.

And maybe- if only for a second- everything would be ok.

 **Author's Note:**

 **...**

 **...**

 **...**

 **...**

 **...**

 **AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!**

 **Dude! I didn't even plan for that to happen! OH MY GOSH THEY ARE ENGAGED!**


	16. 2x16

**Author's Note: Sometimes I think about how different life would be if Snowbarry was cannon. Would it be better? Worse? Would I even ship Snowbert? I dunno.**

It was a beautiful spot that Cisco had found, but it made Caitlin nervous. There was a large chasm, complete with a rushing river underneath and trees and grass sprouting on either side. It would have been a nice place to sit and have a picnic (or a post-engagement celebration), but that wasn't what they were there for.

They were there to train.

"Ooh, hoo hoo!" Cisco said, tossing a balled up piece of paper into the gorge and watching it fall. "Didn't look as deep on the map."

"That's because maps are flat." Barry deadpanned. "This thing is, like, a thousand feet deep."

"If you wanna get faster," Cisco reminded him, striding away from the edge and over to their tent, where Caitlin and Harry were setting up monitors. "Plummeting to your death is just the motivation you need."

Caitlin wasn't quite sure about his logic, but she let it slide. Harry moved towards Barry with his calculations. "So, to reach the speed velocity, you're going to have to go..." He showed Barry the paper, and Barry's eyebrows shot up. "That fast."

"Yeah, well 'that fast' is impossible; I can promise you that." Barry said, puffing out a breath of air.

"Ah ah ah!" Wells held up his pencil wisely. "Nothing in life is promised except death."

Barry smirked. "Edgar Allen Poe?"

"Kanye West." Wells shot back.

"If it makes you feel any better," Cisco called, interrupting their not-so-encouraging conversation as he walked over. "Evil Kenevil cleared a line of cars that was twice this long and he didn't even _have_ superpowers. Unless you count that sweet ride..."

Barry gave him an incredulous glance. "Do you even hear yourself?"

"Look." Cisco patted him on the arm through his gloves. "You're gonna be fine. I'm 80% sure of it."

"Oka-"

"76." Cisco interrupted, unable to help himself. Harry motioned a hand across his throat, clearly telling him to stop. "Like a strong 72, I can't stop, Caitlin, help."

Put on the spot, Caitlin gave Barry a wince. "If you don't feel ready, you probably shouldn't do it."

Cisco glared at her. "Not helpful."

Maybe it wasn't. But Caitlin did not really feel like losing her fiancé of just a few hours to a giant ditch filled with water.

Barry made eye contact, reading her thoughts, just like always. "Look, Zoom's still out there. And once I find a way to Earth-2 I have to be faster then him." She nodded tightly, taking a deep breath. Barry's eyes grew darker. "Right now... I wasn't even fast enough to save Jay." He paused for a moment, gathering himself. "I have to try."

Turning toward the chasm, Barry rubbed his hands together and pulled up his cowl. His feet found purchase in the gravely ground as Caitlin, Cisco and Harry all gathered their supplies.

Moving into a runner's position, Barry placed his hands on the ground. He took a few deep breaths and then was moving, sprinting over the ground and jumping into the air after only a second of lightning.

Still in the air, Barry continued to run. He was quickly nearing the far edge of the chasm, and Caitlin's face bloomed into a smile. "He's gonna make it!"

Then he started to fall.

Arms wheeling and lighting still surrounding him, Barry missed the edge by only a few yards and began to plummet to his death.

"NO!" Caitlin screamed, running towards him even though it was stupid and useless.

"Oh no." Harry muttered, following her.

Out of nowhere, a giant drone rose into the air, carrying a net with Barry safely tangled inside. Caitlin's breath gushed out of her in one thank-God blast, and her legs wobbled with relief.

"Why'd you have to bring those drones, Cisco?" Cisco said in a high, imitating voice. "Oh, I don't know- _you're welcome_ , everyone!"

Still hanging in the net, a few feet in the air, Barry gave Caitlin a half-relieved-half-guilty smile. She hugged him as soon as he was on the ground, net and all, and he squeezed her tightly.

Then she pulled back and hit him in the chest as hard as she could. "That's for being rash." She hit him again. " _That's_ for scaring me." Then she kissed him, feeling his finger rubbing across her wedding ring. "And _that_ is for still being alive."

"Shouldn't you technically kiss me, then?" Cisco said thoughtfully as they were packing up. "Ya know. Because _I_ saved him?"

Caitlin just rolled her eyes.

 **Flash!**

Barry couldn't seem to let go his failure to reach the other side of the chasm.

"I know I can crack this." He said confidently. "I've just been going about it the wrong way; I need to find my leg up." Struck with a sudden idea, he turned to Harry. "Have we factored in drag? Wells, can we rerun the simulation?"

"Let it go for now." Harry all but growled.

Barry's face tightened. "Zoom is still out there." He said quietly. "He's terrorizing a full world full of people; _your_ world. I'm not doing this for fun."

Sensing that the situation could begin to get out of hand, Caitlin cut in. "Barry... we've been working on this all week. You're tired; We're tired." She almost said something about how they hadn't even celebrated their new engagement, but she didn't want to overstep her boundaries.

"Yeah." Cisco picked up her slack, nodding through a mouthful of popcorn. "What we all need is some downtime. Downtime leads to increased productivity, ergo, we have to have fun." He leapt to his feet, grinning. "And the best way to have fun... is for us to go to the club."

Barry's face winced into a disbelieving smile, but Cisco would not be deterred. "Am I right, Team Flash? Let's get movin'!" Laughing, Barry shook his head. Cisco's face went deadpan. "No, but, seriously. We need a break."

He was about to refuse, but Caitlin pocked into the conversation. "You know, I think Cisco's right. And if _I'm_ saying we need a break, you know it's serious."

Barry sent her one of his adorable grins, and let out a sigh. "Okay, alright. Let's... go out tonight."

"Oh yeah." Jesse, peeking over Cisco's shoulder, smiled brightly. She turned to her dad. "Can I go?"

"No." Harry said flatly, and strode out of the room.

Jesse rolled her eyes and flashed a smile at Barry. "Give me a little time. I'm coming with you- whether he knows or not."

She ran out after her dad, leaving Cisco to expertly take his leave as well. Barry leaned over Caitlin's desk, pecking her lips with a smile.

"If you bring us to a karaoke bar, I swear Barry..." She said with a smile, feeling the tingles she had almost gotten used to exploding across her body when he kissed her.

"I promise- no karaoke bars. I want to leave with my hearing."

She punched him in the shoulder and turned to leave with a smile. Barry caught her arm, suddenly serious. "Hey... I know we haven't had much time to... you know, celebrate. But I promise- we will. And wedding planning, too. We need to figure out our colors, right?"

"Red." She said simply. "Obviously red."

"Perfect." Barry responded with a smile. "Absolutely perfect."

 **Flash!**

The bar was loud and flashy and filled with dancing people and couples making out. Caitlin was wearing a long, low cut, sliming black dress, and she was glad that she hadn't gone with anything more... flashy. If any guys tried hitting on her tonight, she supposed she would just have to casually hold up her hand- and her ring.

Poor Cisco was next to a couple shamelessly making out as they sat at the bar. He kept moving closer to Jesse to get away from them, who in turn with shift closer to Caitlin to give him room. By the time that they ordered their drinks, she was practically pressed against Barry, which was not the worst place in the world to be, honestly.

Jesse seemed remarkably comfortable (sans the awkward moments when her meta watch would beep every time Barry went near it) in a messy bar like they were in for an underage teen, and Caitlin had the feeling that she was used to sneaking out for drinks and partying on a regular basis. Still, she smiled. "I'm glad you came, Jesse. Even if this place is... less then ideal."

Jesse smiled happily at her, pleased to be welcomed.

The bartender placed 4 shots down on the table in front of them, and Barry leaned over to get a look at everyone. "Toast?"

They each reached for glasses, holding them up. Cisco grinned. "To the soon-to-be Snow-Allens!" He exclaimed.

Barry laughed. "Snow-Allens, huh? Not Allen-Snows?"

"It makes it sound like Allen is snowing so, no, duh." Cisco stated, clinking his glass with Caitlin.

She rolled her eyes. "How about "To Family", instead?"

"Nuh uh." Jesse shook her head. "This is a toast to you guys. To Barry and Caitlin's engagement!"

Nobody argued with that, and shot glasses were clinked all around. Jesse was about to down hers, but Barry gave her a look and moved her hand back down to the table. "Ah ah ah! I'm sorry, Miss Underage, but none of us plan on getting murdered by your father."

"Oh, whatever, he's all talk." Jesse protested.

"Mmhm." Barry tipped back his glass, not budging.

Two familiar people pushed through the crowd, and Iris and Wally made their way over to the bar. "Yo, hey guys, what's up?" Iris called.

Cisco stood up immediately, his hands fidgeting behind his back, and Iris smiled, pulling him into a hug.

"I'm glad you could make it." Barry said. "What's up, Wally?"

"Hey..." The other man said awkwardly, glancing around. "Uh, interesting choice of venue, with the tic-tac-toe theme. Cool."

"Cisco picked it." Barry said, at the same moment Cisco accused. "It was Barry's idea."

Cisco gave him a look. "Bro?"

"I, uh... Yeah, I picked it!" Barry gave an adorable grimace-smile and Caitlin tried to contain her laugh. "It had 4 stars on Yelp, so..."

"Okay, fair enough." Wally said, shaking his head.

"So... who's this?" Jesse asked, and Caitlin could see her eyeing Wally up and down. This time she couldn't hold back her grin.

"Uh, this is Wally! He's my... foster... step... adopted... my new- this is Wally, my new friend. Wally, this is Jesse." Over the girls head, Barry sent Caitlin a wince. She rolled her eyes.

"Uh, hi." Jesse breathed, reaching up a hand to tuck her hair behind her ear. As soon as it brushed close to Barry, the alert pinged off.

"Hey." Wally replied, grinning at her. "So, uh, Jesse, are you new in town?"

"Uh, yeah! You could say that." Jesse told him, shooting a glance at Caitlin and Cisco for backup if needed. Cisco shrugged.

Wally nodded. "Yeah, me too. You from far away?"

Jesse was successful in brushing her hair back this time. "Like you wouldn't believe."

Her watch pinged again, and her jaw clenched in annoyance. "Ah, would you just excuse me, I need to go..." She was already moving out of the group. "Um... powder my watch?"

Cisco let out one of his all-knowing, evil laughs, wiggling his eyebrows and shooting his eyes from Jesse to Wally and then to Caitlin. She shook her head at him. "Don't embarrass her more then she already is, Cisco Ramon." She whispered.

He smirked in an evil way, leaning against the bar. "Heeeeeey... I know I'm practically your brother and I'm, like, three fourths Barry's size, and this _is_ your engagement party, but, uh, you wanna dance?"

Caitlin raised her eyebrows. "I'm going to have to decline, but only because there's someone who you probably want to dance with more."

Cisco gave her a halfhearted glare. "Okay, _matchmaker_." He humphed, before move carefully over to Iris.

A few moments later, Iris and Cisco were in the thick of the crowd, and Cisco was showing off all of his completely ridiculous dance moves. Iris sent Barry and Caitlin a _what even_ is _this?!_ look, but she was smiling in a way that Barry hadn't seen her smile since Eddie.

"Oh man..." Caitlin said, laughing. "Promise me, when we get married, that we will _not_ do that dance at our wedding."

Barry laughed outright, sending his sister and best friend and thumbs up sign. "I can promise you that."

She rested her head on his shoulder, and he kissed the top of her head. "I know we haven't had much of a chance to talk about the wedding- and honestly, that's my fault."

"Mmhmm." Caitlin agreed, smiling. "That is true."

He nudged her. "Hey, I'm trying to apologize here!"

"I know." Caitlin grinned. "It's lovely."

He laughed, wrapping his arm around her. "Love you."

"Love you, too."

They both glanced up, a familiar sound of speed lightning and flashed of light filling the bar. Barry's eyebrows shot up and he glanced at his fiancé, shocked. People all around were falling to the ground, pushed to the side by a force only tracked up it's shoots of lightning. The music buzzed to a stop as people began to scream, and in seconds, the bartender was unconscious, all the money in the register gone.

"It was the Flash!"

"My wallets gone."

Caitlin turned to Barry. "Someone took my purse."

That got him moving, and he was off and running after the quickly disappearing streak of light.

The speedster moved impossibly fast, but when Barry was able to catch up and look over, he could clearly see that it was a female. Then she glared at him, turned her face away, and ran even faster.

He skidded to a stop eventually, hands on knees and heaving for breath. The female speedster was nowhere to be seen by this point, just a tiny little speck of light leaving burst streetlight bulbs and blaring car alarms in her wake.

 **Flash!**

In all of the rush of Barry's return from Earth 2, Caitlin hadn't gotten around to telling him about Velocity 9.

She had created it when he went through the breach to assist Jay in helping to save the city. Jay had made her promise never to tell anyone about it- the consequences could be fatal to Barry, and with his desperate attempts to get faster, he might not see that clearly.

She honestly agreed with Jay about not telling Barry. But now it was coming back to haunt her. It seemed that their speedster friend from the bar might have somehow used Velocity 9 to gain her speed. And that meant that the secret would have to come out.

The boys followed her down to the vault where she kept the serum locked up. There was one vial of red liquid remaining, and she took it out, turning around slowly to face them.

"It's called Velocity 9." She explained, not able to look Barry in the eye.

"Ooh. Sexy name." Cisco commented, trying to break the tension. "What is it?"

"It's a speed drug. Jay took it when you were on Earth 2 to save the city from a metahuman."

"What?" Barry gave her a look, one that was a little confused and a lot hurt. "How could you not tell me this?"

And there it was. The million dollar question. Caitlin swallowed the guilty lump in her throat, and set the Velocity 9 down on the table. "I promised Jay I wouldn't."

"Promised Jay... what? Why?"

"Because."

Caitlin glanced up, as did Barry and Cisco, as Harry stepped into the room. "Jay knew how dangerous this drug is. I should know, Barry; Snow and I worked on it together."

Barry clenched his jaw, giving them both a disbelieving look. "Guys, I've been busting by butt out there. Pushing myself to the limit. Trying to be better- trying to be _faster_ , and your telling me that there's been something this whole time that could help me?!" His voice had raised to a shout by the end of his sentence, and Caitlin looked at her feet, fighting tears. "This could have helped stop Zoom. It could have helped me save Earth 2 Joe. Save Jay."

"Jay was sick." Caitlin croaked out, her lower lip wobbling. "The drug he took to regain his speed was also caused cellular degeneration. It was _killing_ him. I tried to help, I tried to find a cure, but all the effect were just temporary. The V-9 is deadly."

"Why not tell me this?" Barry asked, his voice calmer was still angry. "Why keep me in the dark."

"I _can't_ have that happen to your, Barry." Caitlin sniffled, squeezing her eyes shut. "I can't."

"Caitlin-" Cisco placed his hand on her shoulder, and suddenly, his face went blank.

Caitlin gave him a look and pulled away, looking at Barry pleadingly. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have hid it from you. But I just... I knew that if I kept it secret, there'd be no possibility for you to ever even have the _temptation_ of trying it."

His eyes dropped and Caitlin rubbed at her eyes.

It didn't seem she was forgiven.

 **Flash!**

"A lady speedster." Cisco let out a gleeful sigh, hands behind his next. "It only took two years, but we _finally_ got one. A lady speedster!" He strode up the steps and into Caitlin lab where Caitlin was patching Barry up were sitting. "Here's a question for you- purely scientific. Was she good looking?"

Joe laughed.

Barry rolled his eyes. "Uh, I was a little busy getting my butt handed to me, so I didn't really notice."

"Right, right, right." Cisco nodded vigorously. "But you know, next time? For science?"

"Next time she punches me in the face, I'll be sure to get her number." Barry said sarcastically. He winced as Caitlin pressed her gauze in the center of his cheek, and gently lowered her wrist away, sending her a quick smile. She hoped against hope that that meant she was (at least starting to be) forgiven.

"There you go." Cisco said, looking pleased.

"The question remains- who is she?" Joe asked from where he was leaning against the wall.

"I have no idea." Barry sighed, standing up and leading everybody out of the room.

"Facial recognition." Harry suggested.

"She had a mask on." Barry sighed, standing up and moving slowly down the stairs.

"What was her suit like?" Cisco asked.

Caitlin sent him a glare, trying to keep him on track. "Hey."

"It's a legitimate question!"

"It is, actually." Harry agreed. "How was her suit made?"

Barry leaned against the desk. "It was good- it was very good. It was like mine... it was made by someone who understands the needs of a speedster."

"So that would be someone who has access to tech and a lab." Joe said thoughtfully.

Caitlin's stomach sank. "Oh no. I'm having a very bad thought."

"When I designed V-9 I was having trouble reformatting the extracellular matrix, so I called a colleague of mine at Mercury Labs for some assistance." She explained to the group, pulling up a few images of DNA strands and one of Eliza. "Eliza Harmon."

"She knows how to make this speed drug?" Barry asked, eyebrows raised, unimpressed.

Caitlin whipped around. "No! I followed the protocols on information compartmentalization and only gave her _3_ of the 8 components necessary for V-9 structure."

"Okay, so she didn't have the full recipe." Barry reiterated.

Caitlin sighed, running her fingers through her hair. She didn't like this. Eliza wasn't a violent person. They had been _friends_ \- if she had really been friends with anyone during the period of her life when she had worked at Mercury Labs. Eliza was a sweet person. She would bring Caitlin coffee when she would work to late on a project, and would always invite her to different office outings and game nights, even if Caitlin always found an excuse to decline.

What had gone wrong?

 **Flash!**

Trajectory was standing in the middle of STAR Labs and holding a gun to Jesse's head. Still, Caitlin was hesitant to let her take the V-9. "There's got to be another way without letting her win." She whispered to Harry as they both raced to her lab to get the remaining serum.

"She has my daughter." Harry growled. "We are going to let her win."

Before he could grab the tray, Caitlin held up a quick finger. "One second." She said, running into Cisco's lab.

A few minutes later, Harry ran back into the Cortex and thrust the dray of V-9 at the female speedster. "This is what you wanted. Now let her go."

Eliza gathered the V-9 in one hand, still holding the gun. "Hmm... how do I know that you two didn't lace this with a sedative to capture me."

"We didn't." Harry breathed, and he was telling the truth.

"You can never be to safe, right?" With that, she had lowered the syringe and slammed it into Jesse's neck.

"No!" Harry dove foreword, knocking the syringe out of her hand to late, and Eliza shoved him to the side, keeping her eyes on Jesse.

Jesse placed a hand on her neck, looking shell shocked, and Eliza gave Caitlin a half smile. "You can never be too safe, right? Thanks for the fix, Cait."

With that, she had flashed out of the Cortex, taking the V-9 with her.

"Get Barry." Caitlin commanded Cisco, who ran to the alert button at his computer while Caitlin approached Jesse. "Are you okay?"

By the time he arrived, Jesse was on the ground, foaming at the mouth and shaking. "Jesse!" Caitlin yelled, falling to her knees beside her. "Turn her on her side."

"What happened?" Barry asked in concern, racing around the desk.

"Eliza shot her with V-9." Harry explained, helping Caitlin to reposition his daughter.

"She's going into shock." Caitlin reported.

"What do we do?" Cisco asked desperately.

"We've gotta get the V-9 out of her system." Barry said.

"She needs a blood transfusion." Caitlin told them, scrambling to her desk. "The blood with flush the drug out of her system. What blood type is she?"

"PC Negative." Harry reported.

"Yeah, well that's not a thing on our Earth!" Cisco yelled.

"I'm a match." Harry growled, pulling his sweater over his head and giving Caitlin room to work.

 **Flash!**

"Caitlin, I know she was your friend and all, but she has gone a little coo coo bird." Cisco said dryly as he dumped a container of picked up pieces of broken glass into the trash can.

"And now she's out there with more V-9." Barry sighed with barely contained frustration.

"What she doesn't know is that I put a micro tracker in the drug." Caitlin said.

Everyone stopped and looked at her. Joe raised his eyebrows. "Hm. That's a brilliant idea."

In less then a minute, Cisco was on his computer and locating the tracker. "You can run..." he murmured. "But you can't hide..."

Caitlin approached the desk, guilt set in her stomach at everything she had done to complete V-9. "I'm the one to blame for this, so I should help fix it."

"There's plenty of blame to go around, Snow." Harry said, rubbing his arm where the needle for the blood transfusion had entered as he stepped into the room. "What's her location?"

"Central City Bridge." Cisco reported, reading off of his screen.

"Why is she running back and forth?" Caitlin asked, watching the tracker dart across the screen.

Cisco shrugged. "Villains gonna vil...?"

"She's creating friction." Barry said, jaw tight.

"That vibration and speed..." Harry continued.

"What?"

Cisco sat back, looking grave. "She could destroy that whole bridge... and everyone on it."

When the Flash arrived at the scene, everyone was in chaos. Cars were parked in disarray and people were struggling off the bridge, knocking around and to the ground by a dizzying bold of speed-lightning.

The stone of the bridge was beginning to crumble, explosions of dust and small pieces of debris falling into the water. Barry hovered at the opening of the bridge, unsure of what to do. "Guys, this bridge is coming down."

"Barry, there's about 200 people on the bridge right now." Cisco reported, unhelpfully.

He sprinted off, darting in between cars and grabbing as many people as he could off the bridge and to safety.

When he had dropped off the last of the people he came to a stop. Almost immediately, Eliza flashed up in front of him and punched him in the face.

He staggered back, and she glowered. "You're ruining all my fun."

She grabbed his arm and tossed him to the side, crackling with energy. Then she flashed off again, leaving the bridge to crumble and collapse in her wake.

Barry rolled unto his side, watching as the entire remains of the bridge splashed onto the water, Eliza safe on the other side.

"Trajectory's to far away." Cisco said, glaring at his computer screen in frustration. "You won't get to her running across the river."

Barry got slowly to his feet, measuring the distance with his eyes. "I will if I jump."

Harry leaned toward the mic. "Barry, to make that jump you'll need to go... Mach 3.3... but... only for a second."

"Okay." Barry panted out, steeling himself.

He placed his hands on the ground and placed his feet behind him, feeling the speed force rush through his brain and fill his body with energy.

Then he was off, running faster then he had every run before until he launched himself off of the side of the bridge and went flying through the air.

Caitlin's breath caught in her throat and she squeezed her armrests with such force that her fingers went numb. Cisco rose to his feet. "Yeah, _buddy_!"

And just like that he was over the length of the broken bridge and slamming to Eliza.

They bounced along the pavement, slamming into an electrical box. Barry was on his feet first, panting and watching Eliza struggle to stand.

He let out a heavy, relieved sigh. "It's over, Eliza."

"It is _never_. _Over_." Eliza growled, forcing herself up on her knees. She pulled out a syringe and held it over her leg.

"Wait, hey!" Barry called, holding out his hand in a soothing fashion. "Stop doing this to yourself! You don't actually want to hurt anyone."

"You don't know anything-" Eliza hissed, chest heaving. "About me."

"No." Barry shook his head. "I know you're not a bad person. This is the V-9 in your system. I also know what it feels like to want to be the best, and you feel like there's not enough time to accomplish things the right way, but... it's a cop-out. And this is killing you!"

His voice broke, watching the struggle in her face. "Look at yourself, Eliza; you're not well. Let us help you. Please."

There was a long moment of intense silence. Then Eliza looked away, slamming the needle into her leg.

Barry shut his eyes, defeat flooding him as Eliza feel to her hands and knees, groaning, and then got to her feet.

She let out a sigh. "That is all the help I need. How does it feel to know that I am faster then you will _ever_ be?"

She shrugged, "See you round."

As she flashed off, Barry frowned. "Her lightning." He said. "It's turning blue."

In a matter of seconds, Eliza turned completely blue. Then her entire body began to disintegrate and with a scream of agony, the female speedster turned into nothing but a pile of sparking suit.

 **Flash!**

Back at the Lab, Iris was standing out front of Trajectory's suit with her hands on her hips and a frown on her face. "Sooo... Eliza just evaporated? From running too fast?"

Caitlin nodded. "Looks like cellular degeneration. Just like Jay's."

"Jay warned us V-9 was dangerous." Joe said in agreement. "At least now we know why."

"You find Jesse?" Cisco asked as Harry walked into the room, strapping a watch to his wrist.

"She went out." Harry responded un-explanatorily. He stopped walking when his eyes fell on Barry, his gaze distant and located vaguely on the floor in front of him.

"Barry, what is it?" Caitlin asked, tilting her head to the side.

He glanced up, like he hadn't even noticed there was anyone else in the room. "Just... right before Eliza disappeared... her lightning. It turned blue."

"Right." Cisco nodded. "But- what if it's a side effect of the V-9?"

Caitlin shrugged. "Yeah, but Jay took the last V-9 and his lightning didn't turn blue."

"How fast was he running?" Barry asked.

"Not as fast as Eliza." Iris said.

"So, what if V-9 is what turns your lightning blue?" Barry suggested. There was something niggling in the back of his head that he couldn't quite grasp, but the sinking feeling in his stomach was starting to give him an idea of exactly what it was. "That would explain why Zoom is so much faster then me."

"If that's true, then that means his sick." Cisco said.

Harry looked up. "He's dying. That's why he wants your speed. He's dying and he needs a cure."

All of the sudden, every single piece clicked into place. Barry felt his heart sink. "Same as Jay."

Caitlin shook her head. "No." She breathed.

Cisco mirrored the action, disbelieving. "Jay? No. He- He _died_ right in front of us. Zoom _killed him_ right in front of us."

"Cisco, we've seen a speedster be in two places at once before." Barry said, his face creased with anger.

"I guess there's one way to find out." Harry said. He turned his gaze on Cisco.

"I guess now would be a good time to tell you all I've been vibeing Zoom." Cisco said in a soft voice.

"What?" Harry asked. "For how long?"

"It started when we closed the last breach." Cisco sighed. His eyes slipped to the display case that held Jay's helmet. "And every time it's happened I've been near that thing."

Suddenly filled with rage, Barry jolted to his feet and smashed through the glass of the case. He yanked out the helmet and held it out to Cisco. "We need to know."

Cisco took the helmet, and his whole body went rigid. When he turned back around, his face was drawn.

"I saw Jay." He said in a soft voice.

"And he's Zoom."

 **Author's Note: WHEW! Chapter 16 is done!**

 **The reason I keep pushing on is because there are some seriously interesting chapters that are going to be coming up! Henry's death... the last fight... not to mention Caitlin's kidnapping. So much opportunity for Snowbarry!**

 **ANOTHER HUGE SHOUTOUT TO THOSE WHO HAVE STUCK WITH ME! I know I am** ** _awful_** **at posting (though this update was pretty quick, if I do say so myself :), but I hope that it is worth it!**


	17. 2x17

**Author's Note: Only 6 more to go! We are going to** ** _do this_** **, guys!**

Barry, Caitlin and Cisco were having what they liked to call a "brainstorm night". It included staying at STAR Labs long after everyone else had gone home, ordering pizza and, well, brainstorming.

Barry was glued to the whiteboard, looking over some calculations. Cisco was at his desk. And Caitlin...

"I think I found something interesting." She said, holding her tablet and coming down the stairs from her office to the Cortex.

"Good interesting or bad interesting?" Cisco asked from his chair. "Because that word could go both ways."

She ignored the question, leading Barry over to the screen in the Cortex and fiddling with her ring, something that still felt a little weird to do. "After running some comparative DNA, you, the Reverse Flash and Zoom are all moving your legs at essentially the same speed."

"Then why are they so much faster then him?" Cisco asked.

"The best I can tell, with each stride, their feet spend less time on the ground." Caitlin explained. "Thus, propelling them foreword much faster."

"By almost 30%." Barry sighed, slapping the book his was holding shut and sighing in discouragement. "Great. Well, I gotta make up that difference somehow."

Caitlin and Cisco exchanged a glance, and Caitlin stepped foreword cautiously. What she was about to say had to be broken delicately. "Barry?" She went over to his side and rested her hand on his arm. "Look. After what that monster did, I want to stop Jay just as badly as you do."

Barry nodded absently, and Caitlin went on, even more gently. "But... what if the reason you haven't been able to run as fast as him yet is because... you just _can't_?"

 **Flash!**

About an hour and a half after Barry left STAR Labs for dinner with Joe, Iris and Wally, Caitlin got a text.

 _I have the answer, meet me at STAR in 5._

She let out a sigh, throwing on her clothes from earlier and slipping on a pair of flats instead of her usual heels.

She wasn't quite able to make it in 5 minutes, but she wasn't a speedster and she obeyed the speed limit, and she got there earlier then Cisco, anyway.

Barry met her at the door and she raised a questioning eyebrow. He bounced on his heels, not letting her know anything before Cisco got there.

When Cisco finally _did_ arrive, he raised his eyebrow in the same way Caitlin had. "Alright, dude. Spill."

5 minutes of hurried explanation later, they were walking hurriedly down STAR's hallway. Barry was rubbing the back of his neck, filling with nervous anticipation.

Cisco shook his head. "Harrison Wells. As in Eobard Thawn- you want _him_ to teach you how to run faster? Oh, that's rich. How are you gonna do that?"

"By running back to this time, last year." Barry said, rounding the corner of the desk and looking at both of the serious.

"And what about the other you, the one from that timeline?" Cisco asked in exasperation.

"I'll knock him out with something." Barry shrugged, not seeming to worried about the flaw in his "perfect" plan. "I mean, he's not gonna see me coming. And then I'll have Wells teach me?"

Caitlin had so many things she wanted to say, but she settled with: "Barry. That's crazy."

He looked at her earnestly. "Nothing I've read is pointing me toward a solution, and if there's anybody that's figured out the key to getting faster without V-9 it's him."

Caitlin bit her lip, nodding a little in halfhearted admittance at his point.

"What do you guys think?" Barry asked.

Cisco scoffed. Caitlin shrugged.

"Your plan is asinine."

They all turned to see Harry standing in the doorway with a baseball cap on his head and a bag over his shoulder.

"Where are you going?" Cisco asked, eyeing the bag.

Harry glared. "Out."

Barry let out a sigh, watching him leave, and turned back to his friends, still waiting for their input. Caitlin titled her head to the side. "Do you really think you can do this?"

He nodded. "Yeah. I do. When I went back last year and..." He stopped for a moment, looking down. "I saw my mom die, it didn't effect the timeline."

"But you haven't really time traveled like this before." Cisco protested, still not onboard.

Barry shook his head. "I have to do this, you guys."

Caitlin was quiet for a moment, but she didn't have to think long. She trusted Barry with her life, and she also knew that he wouldn't be doing something like this if he wasn't positive that it would help.

"Okay." She said. "Let's go for it."

 **Flash!**

"Okay." Cisco said, speaking through the intercom as Barry stood in front of the pipeline in his suit. "You're going to go back to the time when Wells was distracted by the major jerk Hartley Rathaway. This is the first time we found out Wells knew the accelerator might explode, and we were all angry with him. So anything that might seem odd about your behavior Wells _should_ attribute to that. Also, remember. Do not underestimate Hartley. He almost killed you."

They had planned it out to the tee, going through the events of their life and figuring out exactly what they knew when.

Caitlin had stopped Barry just before he went down to the pipeline. "This is a tranq dart that should knock old you out for about... 6 hours." She explained, handing him a syringe. "That lines up perfectly for when you'll get back because not much was happening until Hartley attacked the Cleveland Damn that night. So that should give you time to get what you need and return."

"One more thing." Cisco spoke up. "You _cannot_ tell us the truth about Wells- no matter what. You must keep the timeline intact." He took a breath. "It's going to be hard to course correct if anything gets altered, so get what you need and come back; preferably to this moment. To this exact time. Or else you might set off some sort of 12 Monkeys time loop you'll never get out of." He grinned widely. "No pressure."

"Yeah." Barry sighed. "Cool."

"So, yeah." Cisco nodded. "We'll see ya, in like, 2 seconds." He snickered. "Time travel's so weird."

He gave Barry a hug, and then left him to Caitlin, who hugged him, too.

"Just remember, okay? Nobody knows that we're dating at this point."

"Got it." He said with a smile. "So no unplanned STAR Labs PDA."

"Right." Caitlin smiled back. "At least until you get back."

He leaned down and gave her a long kiss. "Love you."

"Be careful."

Now he was running through the Pipeline, waiting for the breach that was about to open.

When one _did_ open he ran through it, trying to keep his eyes focused in front of him as images flashed around his head.

STAR Labs breaking apart after he ran back in time to try and save his mom. Iris' scream as her fiancé was shot in the chest. Cars tumbling to the side and Hartley holding out his hands, visible air waves reverberating from his gloves.

Then a dark, screaming shape came out of nowhere. It looked like him, but the bottom have of it's face was torn up like a zombie. It flew at him with a terrible scream and Barry dove reflexively.

Barry popped out of the breach and stumbled onto the pavement, looking around him with wide eyes.

He had made it.

 **Flash!**

Once Barry had found his old self, knocked him out, and gotten Hartley under control, he regrouped with his past-timeline team in the Cortex. Caitlin quickly looked around and pecked his cheek. "Nice work out there."

He grinned, thinking about how much nicer it was now that everyone knew they were together. Not to mention it was weird to see Caitlin looking so young... so much less worried, almost. "Uh, thanks."

Barry had a quick flash of guilt (no pun intended- seriously). Was the life that he was leading causing her stress?

That was sort of a stupid question; of course it was. Still, he had never really thought about it... and she had never complained...

Cisco gave him a fist bump and all 3 of them went down to the Pipeline. Cisco typed a few things into the wall computer and gave Hartley and dirty look. "Scanner's picking up foreign metallic objects in your ears. Take them out."

Hartley looked affronted. "I can't." He said, crossing his arms. "I suffered head trauma when STAR Labs exploded. My hearing was severely damaged. Without these, I am in pain you can only _imagine_."

A sudden flash of memory invaded Barry's head. Hartley pulling something out of his ear, sticking it to the wall. A sudden explosion and Cisco flying backwards, debris everywhere.

Before he knew what was happening, he was opening his mouth. "Cisco, see if the devices in his ears are generating any low-level electrical pulses."

Cisco gave him a strange look at the very specific request. "You want me to scan for E-bombs?"

Barry winced mentally, scrambling for an excuse. "I- uh- just... don't you think that they could have been what was interfering with the coms?"

Caitlin shrugged, and Cisco turned back to the computer, typing in a few more things. Hartley looked downright annoyed at this point. He knew his game was up, and now he was just trying to figure out exactly how it had all gone wrong.

"Well, well." Cisco said, giving him a glare. "Trying to go all _Mission: Impossible_ on us? Using those things to bust us out of here?"

Hartley looked rather uncomfortable.

"Your silence speaks volumes." A voice from behind said in a different language. "Pump in some sound stimulation to counteract his tinnitus, and we'll make some non-explosive arrangements for him."

Barry turned, and his face almost broke into a smile. Even with everything that he had done, seeing Wells in a wheelchair brought back memories of a man that had been more then a mentor to Barry.

Then the smile faded, because Wells had caused Barry more pain then anything else. He was staring intently at him when Wells met his gaze.

"I'll deal with you later." He said, and it took Barry a second to realize he was talking to Hartley... not him.

"Take them out, Hartley." Caitlin was saying as Barry stared after Wells, watching him roll out of the Pipeline. "Now."

 **Flash!**

Barry had had the sneaking suspicion that Wells somehow knew. Granted, he _always_ had the suspicion that Wells knew. Everything. All the time.

Those feelings were confirmed only an two or three hours into his trip to the past. Barry got into a conversation with Wells about speed. He laid out his start of the speed equation and watched as Wells' face grew more and more intrigued.

There was a long moment after he finished explaining and he asked for Wells help. Wells shifted in his chair, staring at Barry intently.

Then he reached over and picked up a pen. "Let me see what I can do."

After they had worked for a little while, Barry went off, still pretending to be himself. It was weird seeing Joe and Singh and the CCPD from the past.

It was even weirder -and more painful- seeing Eddie.

Eddie Thawn, alive and in love with Iris, greeting Barry with a pat on the back (Barry, unable to help himself, hugged him). Barry realized that the cop probably thought he was acting seriously weird. Barry was gaping at him like he had just come back from the dead... which he sort of had.

So Barry took his leave, travelled back to STAR Labs, and things sort of went downhill from there.

He walked into STAR Labs to find his team at work, Caitlin and Cisco both at their desks and Wells in his wheelchair in front of them.

"What's going on?" He asked.

"Oh, you know, just trying to figure out how to find this dementor that's apparently roaming through Central City right now." Cisco informed him dryly, glancing over his shoulder for a second before going back to his work.

"I assume that was the cause of the CCPD alarm?" Wells asked, hands folded in his lap.

"Yeah, actually." Barry said, moving so he could stand in front of the desk. "It attacked my lab."

Caitlin looked up, looking concerned. "You saw it?"

"No, I didn't see it, no- I- um- well. I didn't get there in time, but I have... seen it... before." Barry said, trying to cover up his mistake.

Dr. Wells turned slowly around. "Where?"

Barry gave him a nervous smile. "It was earlier today, actually, when I was... running... to take Hartley down."

Cisco looked down with a frown. Caitlin gave him a weird look. Harrison rubbed his mouth with the back of his hand. "And you're just mentioning this now?"

 _Busted_. "I, uh, I mean, I didn't know what it was." Barry said, shrugging. "I thought it was some sort of illusion. I don't know."

Caitlin seemed to buy it, bless her. "Well, we need to find it before it hurts somebody."

Barry nodded vaguely, asking Cisco, "Can you track it?"

"What is it with you guys? It's like you think I have ESP or something." Cisco snapped. "I can't just magically sense where things are."

Barry fought a smile, thinking of future Cisco, who could do exactly that. Wells began to roll around the desk. "What _can_ you do, Cisco?"

"I'm thinking I can reconfigure the STAR Labs satellite to look for it. It might take some time though." Cisco sighed.

Wells nodded. "Do it. In the meantime, Mr. Allen, come with me."

Barry watched him with a slight frown, a feeling of unease growing in his stomach.

Wells led Barry into his lab at STAR Labs- a room rarely seen and never entered. "Have a seat." He invited.

"Is this about the speed equation?" Barry asked, checking his watch. He didn't have a lot of time before he had to head back home.

"As a matter of fact," Wells said. "It is."

"Oh, great, okay, good." Barry let out a sigh of relief, taking a seat in the pre-offered chair. "So you figured it out?"

There was no response, and Barry was about to turn around and ask again when there was a sudden, sharp pain on the back of his head.

Everything went black.

 **Flash!**

When Barry came to, his head was aching and one wrist was latched to a wheelchair at his back. He glanced around, alarmed, before his eyes fell on Wells.

He was sitting with his chin resting on his hand, and behind him lay the brail-esc wall of the room that Barry had first discovered Gideon in.

Harrison waved on hand, a friendly, harmless smile on his face. Barry tugged his arm, trying to break free from the cuff, but it wouldn't budge.

"Now." Harrison said, leaning foreword. "Who are you? I mean: Who are you _really_."

Barry tried to play dumb, hoping that Wells would think that he was mistaken, that he had grabbed the "real" Barry. "Dr. Wells, what're you doing?"

"None of it adds up." Wells said in a soft voice. "The interference with the comms... the speed equation... the time Wraith... That's what we call them. Time Wraiths. Scary..." He chucked menacingly. "Aren't they?"

 _Not quite as scary as you_. Barry thought, comparing the evil grin on Wells' face to the mutated, decayed, screaming mouth of the Time Wraith.

"I thought, oh no." Wells continued. "A Time Wraith has found me, but I thought... no. No. You know what you're doing. No, the Time Wraith is after someone who's traveled through time... and doesn't know what they're doing."

His eyes were straight on Barry. He knew _exactly_ what he was talking about.

Barry let out a laugh, still playing dumb. "Dr. Wells, come on, it's me. It's Barry, I- I don't-" He tugged at his cuff again, but fell silent as Harrison let out another low chuckle.

"You are good." He admitted, clapping lightly. "You are good. And I would believe you- _except_ that-"

He stood up and suddenly flashed foreword. Barry glared up at him.

And Wells got his proof. "Nothing." He said with a slight smile. "A move like this... you barely flinch." He stepped back, leaning against the wall. "You know who I am." He said, crossing his arms. "Don't you?"

Barry didn't respond. He vibrated his hand, trying to phase through the cuffs, and Wells laughed and clapped appreciatively again. "And you're from the future- Do you know how I know that? I haven't taught my Barry Allen how to phase through objects yet."

Barry let out a soft, sardonic laugh. His game was up. Now all that mattered was getting out.

"Now, on to the bigger question." Wells said, sitting back down and glaring at Barry. "Why are you here?"

"Because I want to go faster and you're the only one who can teach me." Barry said, glaring at him with the pure hatred he felt- the only emotion left inside of him, at this point. "You're the only one who's figured out the equation. The Speed Force. You've manipulated it. How did you do that?"

"No." Wells said, standing up and walking in a slow circle around Barry. "You'd only come here if something went wrong. If your still alive... then that means..." He turned slowly, facing Barry with something akin to misery in his expression. "I haven't beaten you. If you're still alive, that means my plan fails. And if my plan fails-" He reacted suddenly, kicking his chair. "I don't get to go home. And if that's the case-"

He suddenly swung his arm down, hand vibrating, aimed at Barry's heart and Barry shot out his hands, yelling. "Whoa! Whoa, hey, hey, hey. It- It's the opposite. It's the opposite." He lied widely. "You tricked me. You harness my speed, we turn on the accelerator to create a path for you to go home. I go back in time. You go back to yours. You won."

Wells looked a little calmed, but his hand was still vibrating. "Then why are you here?" His hand dropped, motionless. "Why are you here now?!"

"Because when I got back a singularity had formed." Barry said. "And the only way to get faster and stop the singularity from happening was to come here. Now."

"Well that's good to know." Wells said, turning away and smiling in satisfaction. He walked over, picked up his chair, sat back down. "There's just... just one thing. It occurs to me... I don't need you. Do I?"

Barry's heart dropped. Wells stood up again. "Not this you, certainly." He smirked. "Oops. You probably should have thought of that _before_ you came back here. What a shame." He began to laugh in a way that sounded painful, slowly approaching. "You came all the way back here just to die."

Scrounging for anything, Barry settled on the first thing that came into his head. "You kill me, Barry- this Barry, your Barry- he learns it all."

Wells stopped moving. Barry nodded. "There's a hidden letter telling him how it ends; how to beat you. Everything. If anything happens to me... you never make it back home. Go on. Kill me, Thawn. See how this all ends."

It worked, Wells took a step back and took a seat in his chair. In control of the situation once more, Barry glared him down. "Now. You're gonna help me get faster."

 **Flash!**

Caitlin came running down the corridor as fast as she could, yelling Cisco's name. "CISCO! IT'S HERE! It's coming!"

Cisco, standing by the controls of the Pipeline door, slammed his hand on the screen. "Inside the cell, now!" He commanded.

The doors opened and Caitlin and Cisco ran inside of Hartley's cell, the latter asking. "Uh, sorry, what's coming?" And moving aside to let Caitlin in.

A second later he got his answer. "Holy Harry Potter..."

The Time Wraith dove against the glass of the cell, cracks spiderwebbing under it's hands.

All three of them dove back. "Okay, well isn't this fantastic." Hartley said sarcastically.

"Look." Cisco responded. "We're gonna be safe in here. These cells are-"

He was cut off when the Wraith once again slammed into the glass, shattering it more. Caitlin gasped and clutched Cisco's arm.

"Impenetrable?" Hartley guessed dryly.

Cisco looked like he was in a minor form of shock. "BARRY!" Caitlin called as loudly as she could. "DR. WELLS! BARRY, HELP!"

Back in the Time Vault, Barry watched the monitor screen with a tight jaw. "We have to help them!"

"It followed you here." Wells accused.

Panicked at how much time he was waisting as the Wraith prepared for another strike at the glass, Barry shook at his cuffs. "Let me out of here, come on!"

Wells stalked foreword. "If that thing comes after me, and messes with my plans, you're all dead!"

Barry gritted his teeth and nodded.

"Where are they?" Caitlin whispered to Cisco as they huddled in the corner of the cell.

Cisco ignored the question and shakily pulled two devices out of his pocket. Hartley's gauntlets. "Okay. Step back."

Hartley gave him a look. "If you shatter the glass-"

" _Do you have a better plan?!_ " Cisco yelled.

"As a matter of fact, give me those." Hartley demanded.

Cisco jerked them away like a small child that didn't want to share his toys. "No."

The Wraith beat at the glass. "NOW, Cisco!" Hartley yelled at him.

With a sigh, Cisco handed the gloves over to their owner. Caitlin watched them both with concern. "What are you going to do?"

"These cells have speakers linked through STAR Labs." Hartley explained, putting on his tech.

"Yes, and?"

"And I rigged these gauntlets to emit a... destructive signal if every they're disarmed." Hartley continued, still fiddling with his gloves. "If I can just find the right frequency of whatever-the-heck that thing is..." He smirked at them, "Well, let's just say you'll be happy you're in here with me."

Hartley slammed his fingers on a few buttons, and suddenly a terrible noise filled the room. Cisco and Caitlin slammed their hands over their ears and the Wraith did the same, screaming and flying away, before vanishing into nothingness.

By the time Barry and Wells arrived, Cisco was opening up the cell doors, he and Caitlin crouched on the floor while Hartley leaned against the wall.

Caitlin ran out and gave Barry a tight hug. He hugged her back, locking eyes with Cisco. "You guys okay?"

"Yeah." Cisco sighed, looking at Hartley with something akin to respect on his face. "Yeah, we're good."

 **Flash!**

Barry couldn't have actually expected to go the entire time without there being some sort of dramatic confusion with him and the "real" Barry.

He couldn't have. He did.

There was.

After Wells let him go and told him the secret to the speed equation, all that was left was to deal with the matter of the Time Wraith. Team Flash was hard at work, trying to figure out how to reconfigure Hartley's gloves to be able to destroy the Wraith.

That was when Barry- the Barry from the time that they were in- came flashing in.

"Where's the other Flash?!" He demanded.

Caitlin and Cisco gave him weird looks. Harrison rubbed his forehead.

"Right here." Barry called, stepping into the Cortex.

Correct-Barry's mouth dropped open a little bit. Cisco walked down slowly from Caitlin's lab. "Okay, not how I expected today to turn out."

Barry sighed. "Yeah."

Correct-Barry backed up, pointing at him. "Okay, so- so- so- who are you?"

Caitlin came out of her lab, giving Correct-Barry a look. "Who's he? Who are you?"

Correct-Barry stared at her with wide eyes, gaping like a fish. "Wh-wh-what do you mean? C'mon, Cait, I'm Barry! Your Barry! He's-"

"Doppleganger..." Cisco muttered, with his 'mind-blown' expression.

"No, not yet." Barry said. "I am you, Barry. Just... different."

"Wait a second, how do we know who the real Barry is?" Cisco asked, sticking out his fingers and pointing at both of them.

Correct-Barry turned his head with a glare. "Dude! I- okay. I've watched Wrath of Khan with you, like, 5 times."

Cisco pointed at Barry. "Imposter!"

"Yeah, and every time at the end you turn to me and say "I have been, and always shall be your friend"." Barry said with a sigh.

Cisco's eyes bulged, and he pointed at Correct-Barry. "Haha, _you_ imposter."

Caitlin squinted at both of them, like she might be able to pick out some detail that would let her know which one was her boyfriend.

Cisco looked near tears. "What is going on here?!"

"Okay guys, I'm sorry, this was not supposed to happen." Barry sighed. "The tranq dart that Caitlin made was supposed to last a lot longer."

Caitlin's hands flew up. "I did _not_ give him a tranq dart."

"Okay, no." Barry said. "Yes, not _you_ , the- the you... from the time that I'm from. My- yeah."

He had almost said his fiancé (just because at this point he just wanted to keep telling people), but stopped because 1: Nobody even knew about them, and 2: He didn't want to spoil the surprise.

Harrison made a stop it gesture, rubbing his hand across his throat. Correct-Barry looked so confused it was almost cute. "Time? That you're from?"

"I think what he is trying to say is he's from the future." Harrison interjected.

Cisco stared. "The fu-"

"Yes."

Correct-Barry stared. "The fu-"

"Yes."

"But the future-"

" _Yes_."

Correct-Barry gaped. "Are we sayin' I can time travel?"

Barry laughed a little, watching the faces of his team transform into amazement. "One day."

"Th-th-th-that explains the white on the symbol." Cisco said, nodding and pointing to Barry's suit. "Wait, so if we change the symbol now, will it be because we got the idea from this? Or, I mean, that-"

"Stop talking." Wells commanded. Then he looked at Barry. "And you stop talking. The more you say, the more the timeline is disrupted. Now, I'm going to assume that your presence is the reason _that thing_ is attacking us?"

"What?" Correct-Barry asked in confusion. "What thing?"

"Have you ever seen the Frighteners?" Cisco asked. "It's sort of like that, but scarier and faster and it's after you- after him." He corrected himself.

"It's been... chasing me every since I got here." Barry confirmed.

"Okay, so how do we stop it?" Correct-Barry asked.

Wells' jaw tightened. "We don't know."

Correct-Barry went bug-eyed again. "Then what're we gonna do?!"

"We're going to do the one thing we can." Wells said unhelpfully, then turned and rolled out of the room.

 **Flash!**

Right before he left, imparting Team Flash with the weight of having a year to figure out how to stop the Time Wraith, Correct-Barry grabbed his arm.

"Can I speak with you?" He said in a hushed voice.

"Uh, yeah, sure." Barry said confusedly, letting Correct-Barry pull him out, even as Wells shook his head violently in the background. "What's up?"

Correct-Barry glanced over his shoulder, back at the Team. Back at Caitlin. "So, I mean, you're me. So you, uh... you know... about us."

"About you and Caitlin?" Barry asked, relaxing. "Yeah, of course I know about you two. Er... about us? About-"

"Right, yeah, yeah." Correct-Barry cut him off as Wells yelled at them to hurry up. "So um... I don't know if I can ask this, but... does everything... does everything work out with us?"

Barry smiled, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Everything works out _very well_. Don't worry about it, okay?"

"Right. Right, okay." Correct-Barry looked a little calmer. "Thanks."

5 minutes later, Barry landed splayed out on the floor of the Cortex, back in his normal time. "It's coming!" He yelled.

"Did you even go?" Caitlin asked, wrinkling her nose.

"The Time Wraith." Barry panted.

"That's a good name." Cisco agreed.

"Looks like that's a yes." Caitlin said with a smile.

 _HOW ARE THEY THIS CALM?!_ "Did you figure out how to stop it?" Barry demanded.

Just then, the horrible, freaky, decayed scull of the Time Wraith came shrieking into the Cortex. Cisco held up a gun and fired.

A small blast sent the Wraith backward, but it recovered in a second and moved toward them again. Cisco pressed against his desk. "Dang it! We thought so!"

The Wraith slid around Cisco and Caitlin and dived at Barry, slamming it's claws into his chest and grabbing his throat with one hand.

"Barry!" Caitlin yelled, as he struggled on the ground, trying to get free.

Barry gasped for air as he began to feel his life force seeping out of his. His skin felt dry and his mind was going fuzzy, the Wraith the only thing clear in his vision.

Just before he was about to pass out, a strange buzzing noise filled the room and the Wraith was pushed off of him.

There stood Hartley Rathaway, his arms outstretched, gloves on his hands. In no time at all, the Wraith had dissolved into nothingness.

Hartley let out a relieved breath. "I suddenly realized." He said. "Low frequency, high intensity."

Both Caitlin and Cisco nodded in understanding. Barry gaped at all three of them. The last time he had seen Hartley, he had been almost as hated as Jay Garrick was to Snowbarry shippers...

Wait, what?

"Oh, hey, Barry." Hartley said, giving him a friendly smile and holding out his hand to help Barry up. "How was your trip?"

Barry flopped back on the ground and shut his eyes.

This was too weird.

 **Flash!**

"So, aside from the fact that a Time Wraith came over here and nearly killed us, how did it go?" Cisco asked.

They (Barry, Cisco, Caitlin, and Hartley) were all in the Cortex. Hartley and Cisco were standing next to each other while Caitlin and Barry leaned against the desk, his arm around her shoulders.

"It was interesting." Barry said honestly with a slight smile.

"Good interesting or bad interesting? Cuz that could go either way." Caitlin asked with a grin, bringing up Cisco's line from earlier... the day. Wow, that was weird.

"So far so... good." Barry shrugged.

Hartley said something in Latin and Caitlin rolled her eyes. "How many times do we have to tell you Hartley: Every since evil Wells got erased from existence, nobody speaks Latin around here."

Hartley smiled. "Well. As always, it's been a pleasure working with you all on this little project. If you need anything in the future, call me. I'm off to a late dinner!"

"Mm, dinner." Caitlin said appreciatively. "Anyone special?"

"Yes." Hartley said before he left the room. "My parents."

"So?" Cisco asked when he was gone. "You got me on pins and needles over here. What about the speed equation? Did Wells tell you what you need to do?"

"Well." Barry said with a slight smile, holding up the light blue hard drive. "Let's see."

They walked to the Time Capsule, and Barry plugged in the hard drive. Nothing happened.

Cisco frowned. "What? Is it password protected?"

"No..." Barry said in disbelief. "With everything I went through... and this doesn't even _work_?!" He slammed his hand on the small stand, and suddenly, blue images bloomed into existence.

They all looked at it in amazement. Barry's face broke into a smile. "We got it."

 **Author's Note: FEW! I wrote, like, nearly all of that in one sitting. That is a** ** _lot_** **of scene references and writing!**

 **Sorry if this wasn't the most interesting of Snowbarry chapters. I tried to make it still have some, but there wasn't much to choose from and I also felt like I should include** ** _something_** **of the plot of the show.**


	18. 2x18

**Author's Note: You guys may or may not be happy to know that I think I have found my reference scenes! Finally -** ** _finally!-_** **There is someone on youtube who posted all of them in order. SO HELPFUL!**

 **Oh! And BTW, this is the Flash and Supergirl crossover episode! Whoo hoo! So I will be including some scenes from Supergirl's side of the story, just in case you were wondering.**

 **Merry Christmas, by the way :)**

"Okay you guys." Barry said, glancing around the dead, empty field he was in as he walked toward his starting mark. "I'm here. Do you have my location?"

"You good?" Cisco asked through the comm. "You don't need to, like, stretch or something?" Standing behind him, Iris shook her head fondly. He grinned up at her. "That's what I do when I go on a run."

"Oh yes. All that running you do, Cisco." Iris said, rolling her eyes.

"Hey! You callin' me lazy?"

"No, no, no. I'm good. I'm good." Barry interrupted.

"Let's take this tachyon enhancer off for a test ride." Cisco said with a evilly excited smile.

"Alright." Barry loosed up his arms and legs, and pressed the tachyon device to his chest. It was the machine that they had built from the hard drive that Dr. Wells gave them, the one that apparently held the ultimate answer to the speed equation.

Whether it did or not was what they were going to find out today.

The device glowed blue and Barry was suddenly filled with more energy then he thought possible. It was like drinking tons and tons of caffeine at super speed- back when his metabolism didn't burn right through it, that was.

"Ooh, yeah! I feel that." Barry reported.

" 'That' is the tachyon device powering up the Speed Force in your cells like a quick charge battery." Caitlin told him. "How do you feel?"

"Different." Barry admitted, bouncing on the balls of his feet.

"Let's see how long it takes you to get back here." Cisco said. "On my count. Three... Two... One- go!"

Grinning wildly, Barry sped off.

"Daaaang..." Cisco muttered. "This thing got you cruising!"

"How fast does he normally go?" Iris asked.

"Not this fast." Caitlin said, grinning.

"Not even _close_. Are his vitals okay?"

Caitlin looked down at her computer screen. "Yeah, they're perfect."

"Cool." Iris commented. "It's like having a pit stop attaching to your chest."

"Guys!" Barry yelled in through the comm, all of them watching as he zig zagged all over the city. "I can go faster!"

He sounded completely exhilarated, and it made Caitlin smile. Cisco looked like a kid on their birthday. "Do it."

Barry pushed himself harder, kicking it up another notch until, suddenly, a breach opened in front of him and he ran right through it.

When he came out the other side he ran straight up a building, caught a girl that just happened to be falling, and kept going, unable to stop.

The two of them finally came to a halt in the middle of a field, and Barry jumped to attention. "You're on fire!"

The girl, blond, pretty, about the same age as Barry, looked down at her flaming chest in surprise and began to calmly pat it out with her bare hands.

"You don't... seem that bothered by the fact that you're on fire..." Barry finished, giving her a weird look.

"I didn't need you to save me." The girl said, giving him a look.

Barry wheezed out a laugh. "Uh, you just fell from a skyscraper, so if I hadn't been there... you would have gone splat."

"I have to... get back to the city." The girl said, and as Barry watched in complete astonishment, she turned and took off into the sky.

He watched her go, the remains of her shelled-off clothing falling back down on top of him. "I thought I was the impossible."

 **Flash!**

After the revelation that he was stuck on another Earth, one without Caitlin or any of his team; after finding out that he had no idea how to get home; after fighting Silver Banshee and Livewire because apparently aliens from another planet who got powers from the sun and super villains that... somehow got their powers another way existed; after all of the mess that had been his day, Barry Allen found Kara Danvers (AKA Supergirl) outside of CatCo Media, leaning on the banister and looking up at the sky.

"Hey." He said, giving her a small wave and going to stand beside her.

Kara adjusted her glasses (which apparently covered up the rest of the world from discovering she was Supergirl- Barry didn't know how _that_ one worked but he just rolled with it) and gave him a returning smile.

"How're you doing?" He asked, leaning against the railing and giving her a searching look. Earlier that day, when they had fought Livewire and Silver Banshee, Kara had rushed headfirst into the conflict, not making a plan, regardless of danger. It hadn't gone well.

"Besides my ears ringing like church bells I am okay." Kara said, not meeting his gaze.

Barry nodded. Then, "You sure? You don't seem okay."

Kara let out a sigh. She was quiet for a moment, and then shook her head. "I'm sorry I made you rush in on Livewire without a plan. I didn't know she was going to have a cohort."

Barry shrugged. "That's the thing about being a superhero. You have to somehow be prepared for the unexpected."

"Something happened to me, a few weeks ago." Kara said softly. "I was exposed to this substance that made me... crazy. I did a lot of horrible things."

"That's rough." Barry whispered.

"And when I was helping people as Supergirl, I was-" Her voice broke a little. "I was _so happy_. And now that people don't want me to help them I feel lost. And I'm in such a hurry to prove myself again I'm making stupid mistakes- like today."

Barry nodded. He understood. "This is gonna sound ironic, coming from me, but... you need to slow down. Just keep doing your good work. Don't worry about the rest. The public will forgive you- I promise."

Kara bit her lip. "How can you be so sure?"

"Cuz the same thing happened to me."

"Really?" Kara asked.

"Uh huh." He nodded, remembering all the way back to one of his first runs as a hero, when he had fought Rainbow Raider and almost killed Oliver.

"So what finally fixed things?"

"Time." Barry told her with a slight smile.

Kara sighed. It obviously wasn't the answer she particularly wanted.

"When you're used to fixing things with brute strength- or, in my case, amazing speed," Barry told her. "It's hard to accept that there are things out of our control. It's humbling, right?"

Kara nodded. "Yeah."

"And believe me, when you stop trying to force the solution... it'll happen on it's own."

Kara gave him a small smile. "I'm really sorry you're locked out of your world, but... I'm glad you're here." She reached out, rubbed his back, and Barry sent her back a smile.

"Me too." He was quiet for a moment, looking up at the sky. "I need to get back though. My friends are back there, and there's this really bad guy..." He trailed off, not wanting to go into detail, and looked down, shaking his head a little. "My fiancé, Caitlin, is probably freaking out right now."

Kara's face bloomed into a smile. "You're fiancé? Oh my gosh, Barry, that's great!"

He couldn't help the grin that spread over his face. "Yeah. And, you know, back to what we were talking about: When you make a mistake like you did... you need your friends around you. You need your family. I know through every screw up and every fault and every mishap that I've gone through... Caitlin's been there. And that's one of the reasons that I love her so much."

He let out a sigh, straightening up. "And it's the reason I need to get back to them."

 **Flash!**

Back at STAR Labs, Caitlin, Cisco and Iris all jumped as Barry came speeding into the room.

He whipped around to face them, tugging off his cowl and looking at them in disbelief. "I- I- I'm back." He started foreword urgently. "How long have I been gone?"

"Let's put it this way." Cisco said, voice edged with excitement. "You just annihilated your old record."

Caitlin looked at him as they both came around the desk, beaming. "You went _4 times faster_ then you have _ever_ been!"

Barry's jaw dropped a little. "Four times?! That's-"

"As fast as Zoom."

Everyone turned as Harry came into the room. "Well. Faster." He raised his mug to Barry and continued on his way.

Barry grinned wildly, and finally gave into the temptation to give Caitlin a huge hug. She kissed him, and he shut his eyes for a moment. "I missed you so much." He admitted.

Caitlin gave him a funny look. "Um... Barry, you were gone for, like, 4 minutes."

"I _wasn't_ , though." He gave everyone serious looks. "I went to another Earth, guys."

"Another- another-" Cisco stuttered. " _Come again?!_ "

"Yeah." Barry rubbed his hands through his hair, sentences stuttering over themselves in their haste to get out. "I met this girl- Supergirl, she's called there- she's an alien from another planet and she has powers, and we fought these bad guys- but I was there for _days_ , guys. I thought I wasn't going to come home, and-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Caitlin grasped his arm. "Slow down. You met a girl... named _Supergirl_?!"

Cisco looked horrified. "Who names these people?!"

"All that I just said." Barry asked incredulously. "And _that's_ what you picked up."

Caitlin and Cisco exchanged looks. Cisco shrugged. "I mean, the alien thing is pretty weird but it's not like we don't deal with weird stuff on an everyday basis."

"You said you were there for days." Caitlin noticed. "Exactly how many days did you mean?"

"Three, maybe?" Barry said. "Two and a half?"

Caitlin and Cisco exchanged another glance. "That's mad freaky." Cisco muttered. "It didn't even seem like you were gone here."

"I wonder if... you had never been able to leave," Caitlin mused. "What would have happened here?"

"Ooh, that's weird. That's very weird." Cisco poked his forehead a few times. "Too weird for right now. I'd say we come back to this later and regroup with the point that you are now _faster then Zoom_."

Barry let out a breath. "Right, right, so now all we have to do is figure out how to get back to Zoom."

Cisco winced. "Yes, uh, just a minor issue. We, uh, closed all the breaches and have no idea how to reopen them."

Barry frowned. "Wait, we- Wells?"

"I have an idea Allen." Harry said without turning around. "Just keep the breaches closed, forever. Forget about the breaches; forget about Zoom."

Barry felt the telltale signs of annoyance starting to invade him. "I'm sorry, I thought you were onboard with this," He said, approaching Harry, frown deepening.

"No. No, I said I would help you get faster." Harry corrected. "I did _not_ say I would give you the man who kidnapped my daughter and tortured her the chance to do it again."

Barry let out a frustrated sigh. He got where Harry was coming from- he did! But they needed to stop Zoom, especially before her hurt anyone else. There was other daughters like Jesse, other fathers like Harry, that could be hurt in the same way the two of them were.

"Hey, we are not going to let that happen!" Iris spoke up.

Harry turned back around, hitting his forehead in a mock-'duh' ejaculation. "Oh, you're not gonna let that happen- gosh, I wish I'd known that the first time- _you don't understand_. Zoom is different then us. Zoom is not tied to anything. Zoom does not care for anyone."

Barry and Caitlin exchanged glances. They both knew _exactly_ who Zoom- or at least Jay- cared for.

"I do." Harry continued. "My daughter's out there on this Earth somewhere, and I have to find her. We _all_ have people that we care about. Zoom will use that against us, believe me. Allen-" He turned pleadingly to Barry. "Think about if it was Snow. If he had kidnapped Snow and now you were going to give him the chance to do it again. Would you?"

Caitlin saw Barry go tense, and gave Harry a glare. "Too far."

"Fine- Fine!" Harry cried. He opened his mouth like he was going to keep talking, but then shut it abruptly and turned around, walking out of the room.

"Maybe we should just leave it be?" Caitlin suggested hesitantly.

"No." Barry said. "No, look- no. Look, we're not turning our backs on another Earth." He was yelling at Harry's back now. "We're not gonna let Zoom get away with everything that he's done."

"Right now," Harry growled. "There _is_ no way to another Earth, Allen. Let's keep it that way.

 **Flash!**

After much thinking and late nights, Team Flash thought they just might have the answer.

Reverb, Cisco's doppelganger from Earth 2, had been able to use his powers in some crazy ways. Opening as many breaches as he wanted, sending blasts of energy like some sort of weapon... there seemed to be a lot more to these vibes then just reading situations in other timelines and universes.

So Cisco was now trying to use his powers to open up a breach to Earth 2. He had been trying for awhile- at least a half hour, and was beginning to get discouraged.

"I got nothing."

"Try again, okay?" Barry called over, sounding a mix between encouraging and impatient.

Caitlin leaned against the railing beside him, watching Cisco shift his feet against the Bunker's metal floor and roll his shoulder a few times to give his arm a break. "Barry... What if he can't do it, because he thinks he can't do it?"

"He can do it though." Barry said, not exactly answering her question. "You can do it, Cisco."

Cisco shut his eyes and raised his arm again. Barry and Caitlin waited, holding their breath. Caitlin crossed her fingers.

Cisco let out a frustrated sigh and his arm dropped. Barry walked down the steps. "It's gonna work, okay? Maybe we're just... not in the right place."

Cisco's jaw clenched. "Maybe I'm just not the right man for the job." He countered. "Let's go."

He turned and walked out of the Bunker. "Cisco-" Barry called after him, but Caitlin shook her head.

"I'm sorry, Barry."

 **Flash!**

Barry and Caitlin were about to go looking for Cisco, who had mysteriously not shown himself in a worrisome amount of time when Iris and Joe walked into the Cortex.

"Hey!" Iris said brightly. "We just came by to see if you guys needed some help."

Caitlin and Barry exchanged one of the their infamous "couple looks". A detective and a journalist weren't going to do that much in a matter regarding scientific discovery, but neither of them particularly wanted to say no.

"Sure!" Caitlin lied.

"Uh, yeah." Barry agreed.

"Do you want to, um, help me in the med bay?" Caitlin invented.

Iris nodded eagerly, and the two women walked up to her lab.

The two of them watched through the window as Joe and Barry talked. Barry said something about pizza that made the both of them laugh, and Barry clapped Joe's shoulder as he grinned and made his way out of the Cortex.

"They really have a special bond, don't they?" Caitlin asked, a soft smile on her face.

"Yeah, they sure do." Iris agreed. "Kind of like the two of you."

Caitlin looked down at her hands, unable to fight her smile.

"Have you two done any wedding planning?" Iris asked.

Caitlin let out a sigh, twisting her ring around her finger and watching it sparkle in the sunlight coming through the window. "No. You know how busy we've all been, and when we finally go home for the night we're too tired to do much else but find Barry a 100,000 plus calories to eat and go to sleep."

Iris laughed. "Ah, the life of a superhero and his fiancé."

"I know, right?" Caitlin grinned. "Never thought it would turn out like this... but I'm happy it did." She paused, and gave Iris a glance. "There is one thing we've talking about, though."

Iris looked at her curiously.

"I know that you mean so much to Barry. You're his sister, and you're my friend. I don't- I don't have any girls in my family that I am close to and I- I was wondering... if you'd want to be my Maid of Honor?"

Iris eyes went wide, and they filled up a little. "Oh my gosh, Caitlin, I would love to!"

She jumped off the table she had been perched on and wrapped Caitlin in a huge hug. Caitlin smiled widely, hugging her back tightly. "I'm really glad, Iris." She said. "It means a lot."

 **Flash!**

Cisco had figured out how to open a breach, and the rest of Team Flash had figured out what to do. There was a lull in activity for the first time in what felt like forever as the team finished setting the trap for Jay- or rather, Hunter Zolomon- and waited for him to arrive.

Caitlin and Barry took up camp in the Cortex, waiting for Cisco's alert to go off, signaling Zoom's arrival.

"Something on your mind?" Barry asked. "You've been really quiet."

"Huh?" Caitlin glanced up, trying to focus on what he had said. "Oh, oh, yeah, I'm fine."

"I know this whole Jay thing is... weird for you." Barry continued, reaching over to squeeze her hand. "If you want to talk-"

"What? No, it's not that." Caitlin cut him off, shaking her head. "I was actually... well, I was thinking about our wedding."

Immediately, Barry looked for interested and concerned. "Uh, what about our wedding?"

"Well, we've talking a bit about who's going to be who, like bridesmaids and Maid of Honor and Best Man and groomsmen and such. And I asked Iris to be Maid of Honor and she said yes-"

"That's great!"

"Yes, yes, it is." Caitlin fidgeted a little. "I just have one thing- okay well 2. Well a lot but two for right now."

Barry was starting to look a bit confused so she pushed on.

"The first is -okay, now I have three. The first is, who are you asking to be Best Man?"

Barry's eyes went wide. "Oh. Shoot."

"Yeah." Caitlin couldn't resist giggling a little. "I'm sure Oliver and Cisco would both be the happiest guys ever to be picked."

"Who do _you_ want to be Best Man?" Barry asked her. "I helped you decide for Iris; it's only fair."

"No." Caitlin protested. "You aren't getting out of this one, Mr. Allen."

He pouted at her. "Pleeeeease? I can't choose! It'd be like choosing between Henry and Joe for my favorite dad."

Caitlin sighed. "Fine."

"That didn't take much convincing."

"Oh, shut up, you. I'd personally pick Cisco, but I know how good of a relationship you have with Oliver."

"Cisco it is then." Barry said decisively. "That'll be perfect. Cisco and Iris can walk down the aisle together, and Oliver and Felicity can as bridesmaid and groomsman."

"Ooh, playing matchmaker, are we?" Caitlin asked teasingly, nudging him. "I like it, I like it."

"Matchmaker?" Barry looked confused again. "Oliver and Felicity are already together, Cait."

Caitlin peered at him, trying to figure out if he was being seriously. "Barry... I'm talking about Iris and Cisco."

"Iris and- _what?!"_

Caitlin let out a snort of laughter. "You men are so clueless."

As Barry continued to gape at her a splutter in surprise, Caitlin gave him a more seriously look. "Now for my second thing." She took a deep breath, and said in a rush, "You know that- that my father passed away from cancer awhile ago."

"Yeah."

"And- and- the traditional thing is for someones father to walk them up the aisle." Caitlin said, feeling her eyes burn a little bit. It was tough to think that her father wasn't going to be there to see her up on the alter, getting married. It was tougher to thing that he hadn't even ever _met_ Barry. "Since, um, my father _can't_ \- I- I- was thinking of asking Joe."

Barry's face shown with such total adoration that she nearly burst into tears. "Are you serious? Really? Oh, Caitlin." He hugged her tightly, kissing the top of her head. "That would- that would make him the happiest man every- other then me, obviously."

Caitlin sniffled into his shirt. "You think so?"

"Yes." Barry said vehemently. "I promise. By the way- what was the third thing you wanted to talk about?"

Caitlin furrowed her brow, trying to remember. "Oh, right! We need a wedding color. Or colors."

Barry grinned. "Red, obviously."

That seemed pretty much perfect.

 **Flash!**

Joe now finally understood why Harry hadn't wanted to open up the breaches again.

Wally had been kidnapped. By Zoom. And the wager was Barry's speed.

They couldn't do anything but go along with it. So Hunter stood in the Cortex with the rest of the team as Barry attached Harry's speed-stealer to his chest and stepped onto the treadmill.

"Barry-" Joe started.

"It's alright, Joe." Barry cut him off, and Caitlin could see him drawing in a deep breath.

He locked eyes with her. "I love you."

"I love you, too." Caitlin whispered. "With or without your speed."

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Hunter tense. "Get on with it." He growled.

Barry began to run, faster and faster, speed force lightning flickering around him. The vial that Harry had created slowly began to fill up with tiny bolts of lightning. Caitlin put a hand over her mouth, feeling sick. This was really happening.

By the time the vial was almost completely full, Barry began to slow. His arms and legs went from being nearly invisible they were moving so fast, so suddenly appearing and disappearing, to outright visible.

"He's slowing down." Caitlin grit out, her heart hammering.

"The Speed Force is leaving his body." Harry said quietly.

The treadmill began to slow down in time with Barry, who was now only lightly jogging looking drained and exhausted.

"He's becoming human again." Cisco whispered.

The computer beeped, and they all looked over. The vial was full. All of the Speed Force that had been in Barry's body was gone.

Barry tripped, and tumbled off the treadmill, looking like he might pass out. Caitlin leapt up and started for the door, Iris and Joe hot on her heals.

"Barry, are you okay?" Caitlin asked, crouching down beside him and helping him sit up. She brushed his sweaty cheek with her fingertips, letting her hand linger on his face.

"I- I'm okay." Barry insisted, though she could tell her really wasn't.

She wanted to pull him into her arms and just cry for awhile. She wanted everything to go back to what it had been just a few hours ago, sitting in the Cortex and talking about their wedding.

What was going to happen now? There was nothing that could stop Zoom. They were completely powerless against him, and he knew it.

Harry unclasped the vial of pure Speed Force and slid it into the syringe. Zoom grabbed it from his hands, and with a look of pure mania on his face, jammed the needle into his arm.

He began to hyperventilate, swirls of lightning slicing across his body. Zoom let out a terrible scream and threw his head back, turning blue.

Then he was off, and before anyone could blink, Barry's back was against the wall, Zoom at his throat.

"Thank you, Flash." Hunter growled.

"Jay, stop!" Caitlin yelled, tears streaming down her face. "Please."

Hunter froze where he was, looking at her through squinted eyes.

Barry wheezed for breath. Harry held up his gun, loading it up and hovering his finger over the trigger.

It was all useless. It was up to her now. "If anything you ever felt for me was real. If anything that you ever wanted between us was real then please just let him go. Please. I know some piece of you did care about me- cared about Cisco, about this team, so if you have any humanity left... the _please_ let him go."

Barry's eyes were shut, his face grey. Hunter let out a breath of air, hissing it through his teeth, and then tossed Barry to the side.

He landed on his hands and knees, wheezing, and Caitlin started for him.

But before she could, Jay's face had turned into a mask of rage and he ran out of the room.

And took him with her.

"CAITLIN!" Barry screamed.

But they were already gone.

 **Author's Note: AND SO IT STARTS! This is where things really start to get interesting!**

 **Did you like my little added scenes? I know I had some requests for scenes while they were on Supergirl's Earth, and I also really wanted to do some wedding talk. Chapter 19 will** ** _hopefully_** **not take a year and a half to come out!**


	19. 2x19

**Author's Note: OMG we are _so close_. So so so so so so so so close.**

As the sun slowly rose over Central City, an alarm went off in the room of a certain not-so-fast-speedster.

Barry reached over and hit snooze button, rubbing his face as sunlight blinded him momentarily. He rolled over, reaching for the other side of the bed...

His hand hit cold covers; a perfectly smooth pillow; neat sheets.

Barry shut his eyes for a moment as everything came rushing back into his brain. Setting the trap. Zoom kidnapped Wally, and then stealing Barry's speed. And then kidnapping Caitlin.

Barry swallowed hard, pushing it all out of his head. He couldn't deal with any of those thoughts at the moment. He had to get to work.

He was forced to take the bus and sit next to a very weird dude playing a very annoying game on his phone. Then the line at Jitters was too long. Finally, he got to the CCPD- late- and sat down to start his mountain of abandoned paperwork. Without coffee. Without his speed. Without Caitlin.

He felt _listless_. He couldn't focus on anything. He finally gave up on his work at around 2:00 and made his way (by bus) over to STAR Labs.

There he was greeted by Cisco and Iris, who gave him two matching, sickeningly sympathetic looks. It was like Caitlin was dead.

 _She's not dead. She_ can't _be dead._

Cisco was working on using Jay's helmet to get any sort of information on Zoom or Caitlin's situation. Their location... a plan... anything.

Cisco let out a sigh as he came out of a vibe, giving the object in his hands a dirty look. "I wish we didn't have to keep Jay's helmet around." He muttered dejectedly. "I hate this thing. I just wanna put a dent in it."

Barry nodded absentmindedly, not having heard a word. "Cisco, did you see Caitlin?"

Cisco let out a sigh. "Zoom's got her in his lair. She's scared, but she's okay."

Barry let out the breath he hadn't realized he had been holding, and sank into a chair. "Thank God. Alright, we need to get her back."

"I know." Joe agreed. "But without your speed, there's no way any of us can get through that breach that Cisco found at the hospital." He let out a sigh. "I don't know if there's anything we can do right now."

"That's right." Harry said, coming into the room with a baseball cap on and rooting through a few drawers. "And that's thanks to you, Allen."

"Enough-" Joe said, but Barry cut him off.

"You don't think I don't know that?" He cried. "My fiancé just got kidnapped by Zoom. This has been my worst nightmare for the past 4 months. If you could just take a second and stop throwing around the blame, you'd see that I'm already administering it just fine by myself!"

His voice broke.

There was a long silence in the Cortex.

Barry leaned foreword and ran his hands through his hair, taking a deep breath. He didn't look at anyone, even as Cisco reached over and rested a hand on his back.

"We're all suffering here." Joe said quietly.

"That's right." Harry repeated. "That's right detective; we're all suffering. We've lost Snow, you've lost your speed, and now Zoom- now he can come through that breach _any time he wants_. And that, Allen, that's on you."

Barry squeezed his eyes shut. He couldn't deal with this right now.

"Hey, that's on all of us." Iris spoke up angrily. "We made these decisions as a team."

Harry turned around, and as Barry looked up, he made a glaring sort of eye contact with him.

"No we didn't."

 **Flash!**

After Harry left to go find Jesse with a following tirade of hurtful words and throwing the blame around, Barry found himself in the Cortex with Joe and Iris.

"Don't listen to Wells." Joe said softly. "This ain't all on you."

Barry pasted on a clearly fake, forced smile. "Yeah. Yeah, I know." He turned around, walking around the desk in the center of the room and toward Caitlin's lab.

"You need a ride back to the station?" Joe offered.

"No, I'm good. I'm gonna stick around, actually finished all my cases this morning."

"Dang. That was fast." Joe muttered, then winced. "That was a poor choice of words." He quickly changed the subject, watching Barry stare around at Caitlin's empty, silent lab, shoulders slumped. "You do know it's okay to ease back into the way you used to do things, right?"

"Well, this is the only way I can fight crime if I'm not the Flash, so that's what I gotta do."

He turned quickly, leaving Joe and Iris in the Cortex. He needed to get out of someone else's sight before his entire exterior cracked and he shattered like a dropped china plate.

Everything in the entirety of STAR Labs reminded him of Caitlin. The Cortex, the blue pen resting on a couple of papers at her desk, heck, _Cisco's_ chair reminded him of all those times she would bump him out of the way and get to work solving their newest scientific problem.

He could picture her now, as he sat down in the Pipeline, her curly brown hair sliding to on side, her teeth worrying her bottom lip as her forehead creased in concentration. The picture was so clear it was almost like he was seeing her.

He opened his eyes, but of course there was nothing there.

A sob burst out of Barry and he turned and slammed his hand against the wall. How could he have let Zoom take her? How could he have let her down? He was supposed to be the one to protect her, to care for her, to make sure she didn't get hurt.

He had _failed_. And now Caitlin was paying the price.

Barry felt a hand on his shoulder. He jumped, whipping around, but it was only Joe.

"Hey, Baer." Joe said quietly, sitting down next to him. "I just... came to check up on you. You've been gone for nearly a half hour."

Barry swallowed. How had it already been that long? "I'm fine." He gritted out through his teeth, not looking Joe in the eye.

His dad reached around and pulled him into a tight hug. "It's okay _not_ to be fine." He said. "You're fiancé was just kidnapped, Barry. That's not something anyone _should_ be fine with."

Barry turned his face into Joe's shoulder, his face working as he tried to hold back his tears. "How could I- How could I have let her down like this, Joe?" He croaked. "How could I have let him take her?"

Joe stayed silent, rubbing Barry's back.

"It's going to be okay." He said finally. "We're going to figure this out."

"But what if we _don't_?" Barry asked flatly. "Joe- I can't go on without her. There's no Barry Allen without Caitlin Snow."

Joe let out a sigh. There was nothing he could say to that.

 **Flash!**

After the entire mess with Harry getting kidnapped and fighting metahumans without Barry's powers had been sorted out, Barry found himself back at STAR Labs.

It was 5:30 in the morning. After a night the was mostly tossing and turning, experiencing the too-present feel of the empty bed and the silence of not being able to hear another person's breathing beside him, he had given up on sleep and taken an early bus a couple miles into the city.

STAR Labs was completely silent when he arrived. He sat for awhile, his eyelids feeling like rocks but not wanting to close, staring at his suit.

A voice broke the silence. "Wow."

He turned around. It was Wells, standing in the doorway with a cup of coffee.

"You're here earlier."

Barry shrugged. "Yeah. I couldn't sleep."

Wells made a vaguely unsympathetic noise. "Me neither."

"I know that we just took down Grey without my powers, but..." Barry trailed off. "Nothing really seems to matter at this point. I have no idea how to get Caitlin back home without my speed."

"We can't, Allen." Harry said quietly.

Barry shut his eyes for a moment, feeling the now-familiar sensation of despair washing over him. "What are we going to do?" He whispered.

Harry rubbed the bridge of his nose, pushing up hi glasses. "Grey... Grey kidnapped me because he thought I was Harrison Wells from this Earth. He was talking about another guy, but I just... I can't help but think... I still haven't paid for what I've done."

Barry tilted his head. "What does that mean?"

Wells rubbed his face again and came around to stand beside Barry on the other side of the desk. "I thought when _we_ closed the breaches that I could just forget about everything I've done, but I can't. But I realize what I _can_ do." He turned to Barry seriously. "You are going to get your speed back, Allen. And I'm gonna help you do that."

"How?"

"By creating another particle accelerator explosion."

 **Flash!**

Deep in the hidden recesses of Earth 2, Caitlin sat hunched over on a thin cot, staring blankly at a untouched meal. It was a burger and fries, the smell of fried food wafting up to her nose. But the normally alluring scent just made her feel sick. She didn't have an appetite. She didn't have a will for much of anything.

Zoom flashed into the room. It had taken Caitlin a couple of days to get herself to the point where she didn't flinch when he appeared. She didn't want to give him the satisfaction of a reaction, even though he tried to convince that he didn't want to scare her.

"You need to eat." Zoom growled.

Caitlin stayed silent. She didn't look at him. The lack of attention infuriated him more then any other kind of revenge she could come up with.

" _Caitliiiiiin..._ " Zoom said dangerously.

She glanced up with a cold glare. "If you want to speak to me, take off that mask."

A second later, Zoom had disappeared, and there Jay stood, hair neatly combed and in normal clothes. "Does this make you feel better?"

"Nothing you could ever do would make me feel better." Caitlin whispered, looking away again.

"You don't need to be afraid." Jay said, walking toward her in a way that was, frankly, fear-inducing. "I'm not going to hurt you.''

She didn't respond.

"I care too much about you to do that."

"You only care about yourself." Caitlin spat. " _Hunter_."

Jay's eyes narrowed to angry slits and he tilted his head like he was listening to something. When he snapped out of it, he said, "I know you think that I'm a monster. I understand why. But that'll change. Please, Cait-"

"Do _not_ call me that." Caitlin growled. There were only a few choice people in the world who got to call her Cait. One had been her brother. One was her best friend. And one was the love of her life. "Why are you keeping me here? You're cured. You don't need anything."

Jay slowly moved foreword. "You're here... because I love you."

Caitlin felt a sick feeling lurch in the pit of her stomach.

Jay knelt down beside her bed, looking into her eyes earnestly. "It may take awhile, but someday, you'll start feeling that way about me, too."

He reached for her face and Caitlin flinched reflexively away, looking at him with horror.

Jay gave her a small smile. "Make yourself at home." He invited, vibrating his hand over her chunky wrist cuffs until they clattered to the mattress, open. "You're gonna be here awhile, okay?"

He stood and flashed away.

Caitlin slowly removed her hands from the cuffs, rubbing her wrists to get the feeling back into them. She took a deep, steadying breath, looking around her at the dark space that Zoom called home.

After a couple of seconds, Caitlin slid her feet off of the bed and stood up to look around. She was surrounded by cages, a good many of them empty, the glass closing them off reflecting the wavering light of the lanterns along the wall.

Her heels made echoing noises as she walked across the concrete floor, but after a moment Caitlin frowned. There was another noise. Like some sort of... tapping.

She moved foreword, squinting in the dim light. A man with a mask was propped up against the wall, knocking furiously on the glass of his cage.

"I- I don't understand." Caitlin murmured, shaking her head.

"Well hello doppelganger of mine."

Caitlin whipped around. There, facing her, was someone who looked so startlingly like her, but so startlingly _not_ , that she had to blink her eyes a few times to make sure she wasn't seeing things.

That _had_ to be Killer Frost. She had icy white hair and a leather outfit covering her from head to foot.

"What do you know? I can still pull off from that."

Killer Frost gave her a slight smile. "What do you say? How about a little team up, Caity? You get me out, I get you home?"

20 minutes later, Caitlin was rushing around Killer Frost's cage with a few wires and her mind going a mile a minute. Teaming up with a frozen, evil murderer wasn't one of her best ideas, but she wasn't one to play damsel in distress for very long.

Caitlin also couldn't help but remember what Barry had told her. Killer Frost had sacrificed herself for Team Flash when they had come to save Barry on Earth 2. If she was willing to do that, maybe she _could_ actually help Caitlin.

"Tick tock." Killer Frost hummed from inside the cage. She had barely stopped her slow, languid pacing since Caitlin had begun her little project, and it was starting to get a bit dizzying to watch.

"I'm going as fast as I can." Caitlin snapped.

"Well, you'd better go faster." Frost said. "Zoom will be back any minute."

"I could just leave you in there, you know." Caitlin huffed an annoyance, attaching another wire.

"Oh, but you wanna go home _so_ badly." Frost countered.

"So how did this happen to you?" Caitlin asked.

"Woke up one day, cold, pale. Thought I was sick. Turns out I was something else entirely." Killer Frost held up her hand and a little stream of steaming ice poured from her fingertips.

"You got hit by the Dark Matter from the particle accelerator explosion?"

"Yes." Frost said, dropping her arm. "Right after I flunked out of med school. Had to move back in with my mother."

Caitlin raised an eyebrow. "That couldn't have been fun. If she's anything like mine, I mean." She added hastily.

"What?" Frost asked. "Is yours a frigid narcissist, too?"

"Cold as ice." Caitlin agreed.

"Yeah. Mom was like that ever since Charlie died."

Caitlin's hand paused on a few wires. "Who's Charlie?"

"My brother." Frost said.

Caitlin frowned. "I had a brother... but his name wasn't Charlie. But he died recently."

"Oh?" Killer Frost tilted her head. "So why was mom such a jerk on your Earth?"

Caitlin let out a sigh. "Honestly? I couldn't say."

She put the last piece of her work into place, and came to stand in front of Frost's cage. The white haired ice queen moved to face her. "So. How is _this_ going to get me out of here?"

"The electrical current in the wire _should_ heat up the carbine which in turn should speed up the electrons. The faster they go-"

"The weaker it's molecular structure becomes." Killer Frost finished.

"Exactly." Caitlin agreed, surprised that she had understood.

"I studied every once and awhile." Frost smirked.

"Well, when it gets hot enough, it should make the carbine as fragile as glass." Caitlin continued.

"And then... we can both get out of here." Killer Frost nodded. "Let's give it a whirl."

She stood back a couple of steps and Caitlin shoved foreword on the lever. Sparks blew up from her contraption, but in only a second the the glass had sparked and then gone dead.

Caitlin picked up a hammer from the ground, exchanged nods with Killer Frost, and slammed the tool against the glass.

The whole pane shattered into a million pieces. Frost protected her face for a second, but it didn't take long for her to straighten up and start to grin.

Caitlin let out a disbelieving laugh. It had actually worked!

"Well..." Frost said, stepping out of her cage. "It looks like you have a little bad-ass in you after all."

Caitlin smiled, but the moment was interrupted by the pounding sound that had filled the room from time to time since she had been there. Caitlin frowned and walked over to the masked man, still trapped in his cage. "What are we going to do about this guy?"

"Oh, Caity." Killer Frost said with a sigh. "I don't think he's ever going home."

The pounding became more frantic.

"And neither are you."

Caitlin whipped around as Killer Frost's hand went frosty and she shot a blast of ice at Caitlin.

Caitlin dove to the side with a gasp. "What are you doing?! I thought we had a deal!"

"Ugh." Killer Frost rolled her eyes. "Is _everyone_ on your Earth this gullible?"

Caitlin took off running, but Killer Frost sent a stream of ice toward the ground and she skidded on it, slipping and sliding into the wall.

"Heels aren't the best on ice, are they?" Killer Frost commented, walking slowly towards her, like a cat stalking its prey. "You know, once I saw you, I realized why Zoom didn't kill me. Because I look just like you."

She was moving faster now, and Caitlin stumbled to her feet, prepared to run in any direction.

"Now," Killer Frost continued. "He won't need me anymore."

Another icicle formed in her hand, and she didn't hesitate before letting it go.

Caitlin watched the icicle shoot towards her. She tensed, bracing for impact. This was it. Her last moments would be spent in some dark dungeon. The last face she saw would be that of her traitorous doppelganger. She would never see her friends again, the people she loved, _Barry_. She would never become Caitlin Snow-Allen.

Then Zoom appeared out of nowhere. The icicle didn't stab into Caitlin.

It rammed itself into Killer Frost.

Her eyes went wide with icy-blue surprise and she gasped, choking on Zoom's grip around her neck. Caitlin clapped a hand over her mouth.

Then Frost's body had crumpled to the floor, dead.

 **Author's Note: DON'T KILL MEEEEE! I know there was barely _any_ Snowbarry but there's literally nothing else I could have done! Caitlin's not at STAR Labs!**

 **BUT GUUUUUYS MY FAVORITE EPISODE IS ALMOST HERE! I'm so excited. 2x22 is _literally why I am doing Snowbarry Season 2._ It's going to be _lit_. **


	20. 2x20

**Author's Note: OH MY GAAAWD 2x20! We only have** ** _4 more episodes_** **.** ** _4_** **. It has been such a long road and you guys who have stuck with me are literally the BEST!**

 **HEY GUYS! If you are looking for the BEST EVER Snowbarry stuff on youtube, go to React Out Loud's youtube channel. I watch his/her video on the episode the I'm writing before I write each chapter, and I am never disappointed :D**

The quiet of the city was broken by the sound of sirens. It was 10:00 at night, and Barry was jogging on the treadmill.

It wasn't, however, for exercise. Cisco had gotten a little crazy with his afternoon invention session, and had created something that was going to be absolutely priceless for fighting the minor crime in Central City.

No one could know that the Flash was out of commission. So Barry kept jogging and sweating his butt off, listening to Cisco's commentary through the com.

"Oh?" Cisco said sassily, wagging his finger at his monitor. "Oh, you wanna play? Okay. Alright, get ready to bring it!"

Barry nodded, but he was a bit more interested in the way that Iris smiled widely and gently nudged Cisco's shoulder in a friendly, teasing way.

Maybe Caitlin was right. Maybe they _were_ a thing.

He refocused, keeping up his steady jogging pace.

"They're not slowing down." Iris said in concern, eyes also on the monitor.

"Of _course_ not." Barry panted.

"They're headed for the 5th street tunnel." Cisco reported, hand on his controller. "Satellite can't project in there!"

"And you just thought of this now?!" Iris exclaimed.

"I didn't think they'd actually try to outrun the Flash." Cisco said defensively.

"Lightning!" Barry wheezed. "Lightning toss!"

"He says to do the lightning toss." Iris reported.

"Nope, no lightning." Cisco deadpanned. "It's a hologram, remember?"

Barry kept waving his arm. Iris nodded and turned back to Cisco. "No, no, no the windup."

"So we can block there field of vision- yes, of course!" Cisco muttered. "Okay, Cisco. This is where all those countless hours of gaming in your basement are going to pay off." He tightened his grip on the controller. "Fingers don't fail me now. HERE WE GO!"

There was a moment of tense silence. Then Cisco grinned and pressed a button. The treadmill began to slow, and Barry came to a stop, panting.

"We got 'em!" Cisco exclaimed triumphantly.

"Yes!" Iris cried, running over. "That's how it's _done!_ "

He gave her a big hug. "Nice work, partner."

The two of them smiled happily at each other. Barry felt a pit form in his stomach. It wasn't like he wasn't happy for Iris and Cisco. It was just that they -like everything else- reminded him of Caitlin.

Would they ever get to have their wedding now?

Barry pushed those thoughts aside, grabbing a long swig from his water bottle. "Good work, guys." He said, trying not to sound quite as flat as he felt. "Good work."

 **Flash!**

Henry Allen was chopping logs in his yard when Barry pulled up in Joe's car (borrowed for the afternoon). It had been a peaceful drive over, where he watched the scenery transform from the thick, crowded city, to an area with badly paved roads, only a few other cars, and barely visible houses peeking out of the woods.

Henry set down his ax and walked toward the car as Barry got out.

"Hey." Barry said in greeting.

"Hey." Henry echoed, going in for a hug. "You made it!"

"Yeah." Barry agreed, hugging him tightly back. "Look at this."

"Come inside; get warm." Henry offered, keeping his hand on his son's shoulder as he led him inside the woodsy cabin that he called home.

"Sure is a pretty drive up here." Barry commented idly once he had take on his shoes and was looking around the house. His eyes fell on a photograph- the last family picture he, his dad, and his mom had ever taken.

He swallowed and quickly moved away.

"It is." Henry agreed, sitting down heavily at a table and gesturing for Barry to do the same.

He took the chair across from Henry, taking off his coat and draping it over the back.

"I can't help but wonder why a speedster needs a car." Henry said as Barry took his seat.

"Because I am no longer a speedster." Barry said with a sigh.

Henry looked concerned. "You've lost your powers?"

"I gave them up to save Wally- Joe's son. Zoom had him, so it was either give him my speed or... well, I couldn't let Wally die."

"No." Henry said seriously. "You couldn't."

"Now Jay has taken Caitlin and- and we have no idea how to save her." Barry continued. He kept his eyes somewhere over his father's left shoulder, not able to look him in the face without breaking down.

"Jay took Caitlin?" Henry said incredulously.

"Jay- yeah, yes. It, uh, turns out that Jay Garrick is not the Flash from Earth 2. He's Zoom."

"Garrick?" Henry repeated.

"Garrick. Yeah, why?"

"That was my mom's maiden name." Henry said quietly, taking a sip of his tea.

Just another layer that Barry didn't need added. He nodded. "Maybe... maybe Wells is right; maybe I should try to get my powers back."

Henry set down his mug. "How would you do that?"

"By recreating the particle accelerator explosion." Barry told him heavily.

"And getting struck by lightning again?" Henry asked. "That doesn't seem like the safest option."

"No." Barry whispered. "But Jay has Caitlin, dad. And I'm not going to be able to save her without my powers."

Henry leaned foreword. "I've watched you grow ever since you became the Flash. And I am _so proud_ of that man. But ask yourself: Did you really need powers in order to be that person?"

"It just feels like every time something good happens in my life, it gets taken away." Barry said quietly. "The man that took my speed also took my fiancé. He took my future. He took everything that I live for."

Henry was staring at him, his eyes wide. "Your- your _fiancé_?"

Barry frowned. Had he really not told-? "I... yeah."

"When did this happen?" Henry demanded, a smile blooming across his face. "Son, this is- this is incredible!"

Barry forced a small smile. "Yeah. We are- we _were_ \- both really happy."

Henry heard the past tense and his face fell. "And Garrick kidnapped her."

"Yeah."

Henry took a breath. "Well, maybe it's time we did something about that."

 **Flash!**

Joe and Wally were in the CCPD, attempting to sneak out of the precinct before Singh caught them and forced Joe into some new activity. They had received a call from Iris that there was "exciting news", and while it was probably a bit to much to hope, Joe couldn't help but get excited that maybe that exciting news was Caitlin. Or at least a way to get her back.

He and Wally were just walking toward the entrance when a familiar slash of blue lightning appeared in the CCPD. Joe whipped his gun out immediately, hands trembling a little bit as he came face to face with the worst man he had ever met.

"Hello, old friend." Zoom growled.

Joe extended an arm and herded Wally protectively behind him. His son had already been kidnapped by this madman once. It wasn't going to happen again. "Stay away from him."

"Do not move." Singh ordered, his own gun now trained of the dark speedster.

"Or what?" Zoom asked. "You tried bullets on me once before."

"No!"

Joe looked up. There, leaning over the railing, was Caitlin Snow.

"Don't hurt them." She begged Jay, gripping the railing tightly. She seemed unhurt, though she looked terrified, and like her entire world was falling down around her shoulders, piece by weighty piece. "Let them go- _please_."

There was a long, heavy pause, where Zoom's masked face seemed to be considering her plea.

Then: "Tell everyone... this city is _mine_." Zoom growled. "Anyone who disobeys me... will _meet their end._ "

"Alright." Singh said in a remarkably calm, commanding voice. "Clear out!" He called to the rest of the officers, who began to file out of the CCPD.

Joe sent one last glance up at Caitlin. She swallowed. "Joe... tell him- tell him I-"

Zoom's head snapped towards her voice, and Caitlin immediately broke off.

Joe nodded. He understood.

 **Flash!**

"Caitlin's with Zoom." Joe informed the rest of his team.

He was back in STAR Labs, one of his hands still trembling slightly from the events of the afternoon.

"Why would he bring her here?" Iris asked allowed.

"To show power." Harry said. "It's exactly what he did on my Earth."

Joe shook his head. "What're you talking about?"

"First thing he did was murder people." Harry continued. "Slaughtered a bunch of police men and then recruited every metahuman he could find. And those that disobeyed he killed too."

"Wait, where are the police men now?" Iris asked.

"Outside the precinct."

"He'll kill them, Joe." Harry said gravely. "He'll kill them all."

"Now with Caitlin with him." Joe stated confidently. "She talked him out of killing everyone when he took over CCPD."

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Barry's jaw tighten. He had been strangely quiet up until now. What wasn't he saying?

"That's what we're going to rely on?" Harry demanded. "Snow talking him out of it? Joe, you need to get those guys our of there."

"What if they set up at Jitters?" Cisco suggested.

"It's a good idea." Joe agreed. "It's just a block away from the precinct."

Harry threw up his hands. "And then what? What happens next? You saw what Zoom did on my Earth- he will do the _exact same thing here_. Barry, we need to get you you're powers back."

Henry spoke up for the first time. "There must be another way."

"There's not." Harry let out a sigh and turned around abruptly, storming out of the room. "There's not."

"I'm gonna get word to Singh; set a task force up at Jitters." Joe muttered as he, too, started out of the room. Then he paused, glancing at Barry. "Can I have a word with you?"

Barry looked up and nodded cautiously. Cisco, Henry and Iris all watched as he slowly followed Joe out of the Cortex.

"What is going on with you?" Joe demanded. "Look, I know Caitlin was kidnapped, but I saw her, Baer! She's okay!"

Barry's jaw tightened, the same way it had earlier. Then his face flushed red and he exploded. "How could you just leave her there, Joe?! She was _right there_. You could have found a way to get her out! To bring her home! We might not ever get another chance. What if this little thing she has hanging over him suddenly snaps and he goes crazy and kills her? Huh? What then?"

Joe's eyebrows shot up. He was taken aback. "Barry, what did you expect me to do?" He hissed. "Try to outrun the fasted speedster in the multiverse?" He let out a sigh, reaching for Barry's shoulder. "I know you're worried about here, but I'm not a super hero, Barry. I can't just go and disobey orders from an evil man that could kill me before anyone even knew he moved."

Barry slumped, all the fight going out of him. "I know. You- You're right, I just..."

"I know." Joe said, squeezing his shoulder. "You're scared. You want you're fiancé back, safe and sound."

Barry swallowed thickly and nodded, shutting his eyes for a moment. "I just... I wish I could have been there. I might have been able to do something. Just _seeing_ her would be enough."

Joe reached foreword and hugged him. "Right before I left the precinct, she tried to say something to me. A message to send along to you. She stopped partway, but I think she was going to say to tell you that she loves you. She hasn't given up on you, Barry. None of us have."

 **Flash!**

The words came out of his mouth before he knew he was saying them.

"Let's do it."

There was a long silence in the Cortex. Everyone had come in for a meeting, one that Harry had taken to inform them of Zoom's next steps.

Metahumans. So, so many metahumans that would come flooding to help Zoom destroy Barry's Earth now that they knew the Flash was out of commission. Barry couldn't let that happen. He could let Zoom win; couldn't let him hurt his friends and his city; and most _certainly_ couldn't stand by while Caitlin was in the grasp of his worst nightmare.

"I want to do it," Barry said again, his voice hoarse. "One of the cops Zoom killed tonight, he had a son. Same age I was when my mom was murdered. Another kid has to grow up without their parents because- because the Flash wasn't there to stop that monster. I left this city unprotected by giving up my powers to Zoom. I enabled him to rule this Earth. I need my powers back."

The faces of everyone in the room were long. Except Harry. He nodded, giving Barry a look that held more respect then the ex-speedster had ever seen on him.

"Let's do it." Barry said, getting to his feet. "Let's set up the particle accelerator.

 **Flash!**

Cisco and Wells had created a beauty of a machine. It was basically the Particle Accelerator, but it would isolate all of it's power on Barry, instead of the whole city.

"So... Barry just gets in, we turn it on and that's it?" Iris asked. She wasn't particularly onboard with this plan, but Barry wasn't going to be convinced to change his mind.

"Yeah," Harry said, a little breathlessly, as he turned around from the part of the machine he was working on.

Joe and Iris stared back at him, both looking disbelieving.

"Not exactly," Harry corrected. "Because in recreating what happened with the Particle Accelerator explosion, we also have to recreate what happened to Barry."

"Getting struck by lightning," Barry realized.

Harry grinned at him. "That's right."

"Wait, so how are you going to do that? It's not even raining?" Iris asked, confused.

"Well, Ramon, you have the wand?"

"The one I made for Mark Mardin?" Cisco asked, brow furrowing.

"Nope, the one you built for the Harry Potter convention- _yes of course_ the one you built for Mark Mardin." Harry snapped.

Cisco gave him a long, strange look. "How do you know about that Harry Potter convention."

"Get the wand. And get on the roof."

Joe frowned. "Why the roof?"

"Because we're gonna need a lightning rod," Harry answered, almost looking like he was enjoying this. "And that, Ramon, is going to be you."

It didn't take long for Cisco to get set up. "Alright, I'm on the roof," he reported through his com. "Wow. I've never actually been up here before. I think I can see my apartment from here."

Back down in the Bunker, Iris cracked a smile at Cisco's natural ability to just all around be funny. Barry watched her, remembering Caitlin's words about there being something between them. He felt a pang, and tried to show Caitlin out of his mind, at least for now.

"Head straight to the satellite Ramon. When I give you the signal you're going to create a lightning storm above you," Harry instructed, refusing to be distracted from his project.

"I'm just supposed to stand here in the middle of a lightning storm?!"

"Really, Ramon, the chances of being struck are slim indeed," Harry said, not very reassuringly.

"Yep, not when you're the one causing it!" Cisco argued.

"All we need is one lightning bolt to strike the satellite. The satellite is connected to the circuitry is connected to the breach room, Barry's in the breach room. Just do it."

"Yeah, I'm doin' it." Cisco huffed. "Lonestar better watch up. Cisco Ramon's about to conduct something nasty."

Meanwhile, Barry loaded himself into the machine. The clamps closed around his legs and wrists in a way that was painfully tight.

"You're going to feel those clamps," Harry said, hearing his grunt. "But they're necessary."

"You good?" Joe asked quietly from the ground.

"Yeah." Barry was honestly telling the truth. "You?"

Joe's mouth twisted. He didn't respond.

"I'll be fine, Joe." Barry assured him. He sounded a bit more confident then he felt, but this was probably the calmest he had been since Caitlin's kidnapping. He was finally doing something that could lead to him saving her. To him getting her home.

Iris gave him a weak smile and followed her father down to stand with Harry. Henry replaced them. He smiled up at his son. "Son. You don't have to do this, if you don't want to."

Barry sighed, shutting his eyes for a moment against the torrent of emotions inside of his brain. "Being the Flash, that's the best version of me. If I don't have my speed, I can't be that person anymore. I'll never be able to protect the people that I love and I'll never be able to get Caitlin home. And without Caitlin, I'll never be able to be whole."

Henry swallowed. "Okay."

"You ready Allen?" Harry asked from the control panel.

Taking a last deep breath, Barry nodded.

 **Flash!**

For a long moment, all Barry felt was pain. Chemicals, in his blood, burning his muscles and making the world spin.

Then lightning, streaming through the controls and causing him to toss his head back, screaming in pain. This was the most agonizing thing he had ever felt. It felt like the very fiber of his being was being dissolved, filtering into the air in particles.

It wasn't supposed to hurt this much. Something must be wrong.

Then everything went white hot and blurry.

Barry didn't remember anything after that.

 **Flash!**

"It worked!" Cisco cried, coming into the bunker. "Is everyone okay?" He laid a hand on Iris' arm but she wasn't looking at him. "What happened?"

The blast doors opened, and the smoke cleared

The machine that had held Barry was empty.

Iris let out a choked sob and Henry got to his feet, glaring at Harry. "No... What did you do to my son?!"

Before Harry or anyone else could say anything, a familiar flash of blue lightning shot through the bunker and Zoom was standing in the center of the room.

He slowly held up the tattered remains of a red leather suit with a lightning bolt emblem on the front. "You thought... you could give the Flash... his speed back?" Zoom growled. " _Well done_. You _killed him_ instead."

He flashed out of the room, leaving the group to stand in pained, grieving shock.

Halfway across the city, a brunet doctor was curled up on the floor with her wrist chained to a desk.

Earlier that afternoon, she had warned Team Flash about Rupture. Her attempt to save lives had ended in the entire squad of cops in Jitters being killed by Zoom. The guilt of all those deaths was weighing on her even more then the fact that Barry still didn't have his speed and that she might not ever see him again.

Then Zoom came flashing in and all those thoughts left her mind. He was holding a piece of red leather, shockingly familiar.

Tears burned her eyes as Zoom tangled the torn piece of Barry's suit in front of her. "Your Flash is _dead_." he growled, eyes slits behind his mask. "Your last hope of saving is gone."

He dropped the leather and flashed away, leaving Caitlin to sit back in shock.

Then she reached foreword, scrambling for the suit. She held it to her face, ignoring the strong burned smell and the burned scent and searched for something more.

 _There_.

It still smelled, just a little, of Barry.

Caitlin broke down and sobbed.

 **Author's Note: Whew, that was dramatic.**

 **I love writing drama. So enjoyable. Don't worry, it will all resolve, of course! (I mean you guys know how the show ends so you could probably guess that XD)**

 **Okay, so I kind of broke cannon. Zoom never took the piece of Barry's suit but I didn't realize that until I wrote it and I really liked that scene. So I know it means that Cisco can't vibe Barry but WHATEVER OKAY!**


	21. 2x21

**Author's Note: HEEEEEY 2x21. You guys are the best fans a girl could ask for :)**

 **This is the chapter where things really get going for Irisco. You all said ya wanted it, so.. :)**

Barry awoke with a start, but then didn't feel like he had ever been asleep.

He was lying in bed. A familiar bed. A bed with a navy blue pillow and striped covers, in a room with a fish bowl and thin beige curtains and planets hanging from the ceiling.

It was his old room.

Barry slowly stood up, getting out of bed and walking through his room towards the door. Everything was exactly how he remembered it, and nostalgia threatened to overwhelm him. It had been a long time since he was in that room.

He slowly walked down the worn wood steps, hang skating over the banister as he moved towards the living room.

He stopped, smile falling off his face, as he caught sight of fluttering yellow police tape and Joe, crouched on the ground.

"Joe?"

Joe looked up, away from his note pad. He smiled, standing. "Good to see you, Barry."

There was something stiff in the way he spoke, not at all like the Joe West he knew.

"But I'm not Joe."

"You're not?" Barry asked, staring at him.

"No."

"Then all of... this-" he broke off, looking around him at the familiar scene of his house. "It's not real?"

"How do you feel? Being back here?" Joe asked awkwardly.

"I feel awful," Barry muttered, tears welling in his eyes.

Joe ducked under the police tape, walking toward Barry. "We thought you'd be more comfortable talking to someone familiar and in a place you knew." he said.

Barry kept staring uncomfortably at him, "We? Who's we, exactly?"

Something about this was just too much like all the horror movies that Caitlin never wanted to watch with him.

"That's a little... hard to explain." Joe said. He gestured behind Barry. "Sit."

Barry sank slowly down on the coffee table and Joe took a chair. "How much do you know about the Speed Force?"

Barry frowned, surprised by the question. "It's the source of my power," he said. "It's what makes me a speedster."

"Yes." Joe smiled. "And no. When the first subatomic particles sprang forth from the Big Bang to form reality as you know it... we were there. When the last proton decays, stops vibrating, and plunges the universe into heat death, we'll be there too."

Barry peered foreword, his brain a mess of theories and ideas and only one really becoming clear. "I'm talking to the Speed Force?"

Joe nodded.

The scientist in Barry was making this very weird for him. "Isn't that like saying I'm having a conversation with gravity or heat or-"

Joe laughed, and nodded again.

Barry shook his head, standing up, and the smile faded off of Joe's face. "You need a minute? It's okay if you do; it's a lot to take in."

"S-s-so you're saying I'm _talking_ to the source of my power? Who just so happens to look like my adoptive dad?" Once again, Joe nodded. Barry let out a breath, letting it sink in. "That's trippy."

Joe laughed. "We pretty much invented trippy here.''

"Look, I'm not sure why you've brought me here, but you need to send me back. My friends are in danger from Zoom."

Suddenly, the lights flickered.

It took Barry a second to realize that there weren't any lights on. Something, outside, was flashing around, causing the sunlight to dim. Something fast. Something... like a speedster.

"Did you see that?" Barry asked.

Joe looked up at him. "You're not going back." He said softly. "Not until you catch... that."

Barry followed Joe's finger and saw, though the sun-streamed window, a flash off black running down the street.

Another speedster. And he needed to catch it.

 **Flash!**

Barry had been running after the mysterious speedster for what felt like ten minutes. He was already out of breath, and stopped in the middle of the road, doubled over, hands on knees.

He turned, looking for some place to take a break, and his breath caught in his throat.

"Caitlin!" he gasped, rushing over to the bench and pulling his fiancé tightly into his arms.

It felt wrong. Caitlin felt cold, distant.

He pulled back.

"I'm glad you made it, Barry," Caitlin said in the same, stiff way that Joe had spoken earlier.

Barry let out a sigh, homesickness and missing-Caitlin filling every part of him. "Not Caitlin. It's just you again."

"Sit Barry," she offered, gesturing to the bench. "You're always on your feet."

She followed her own advice and took a seat on the bench, legs crossed and one arm along the back in a casual, relaxed position. Barry let out a heavy sigh and sat down next to her. It was killing him to see Caitlin, so close, right in front of him, and then have it not really be her.

"Do you remember this place?" Caitlin asked, glancing around the field. "Where you first told me you loved me? I was in STAR Labs, of course, but you were here."

"Yeah, except that wasn't you," Barry mumbled, glancing sideways at her.

"We thought you'd find this place and our appearance less upsetting," Caitlin said softly. "Yet you seem upset."

Barry's jaw clenched. "My friends... my city... my whole _world_ is in danger. Zoom is on a rampage with the power that he stole from _me_ and you are keeping me here. And you just keep _reminding me_ of everything that is going on because you have now taken the form of my kidnapped fiancé."

"You were given a rare and precious gift, and you rejected it," Caitlin said.

"No, I did not reject it," Barry yelled. "I _gave up_ my powers to save someone's life; to be a hero. I nearly killed myself trying to get them back when you brought me here. Wherever here is."

"That's not what we meant."

"Look," Barry took a breath. Even though it wasn't actually her, he still had trouble staying mad at Caitlin's large, intense brown eyes and serious face. "If you had rather given these powers to somebody else, why did you give them to me?"

Caitlin turned, staring hard at him. "Because _you're_ the Flash, Barry."

 **Flash!**

"Cisco says Barry's still alive. Where is he?"

Harry's hand hovered over the forehead of the unconscious Jesse Quick, pausing at the sound of Henry's voice. He let his arm drop back to his side, not turning. "I don't know."

"Harry," Cisco said urgently. "I vibed him in the center of a storm. It was like a- a- vortex or something."

Harry stopped breathing and spun around. "He's in... He's in the Speed Force."

"Get him out then!" Henry demanded, stalking foreword. Harry stuttered something unintelligible, and Henry's face darkened. "You can't get him out, can you?!"

"I don't know if it can!" Harry exclaimed, interrupting him.

"Hey!" Joe caught Henry's glance and beckoned to him. "Come over here."

The two of them spoke quietly for a moment, and Cisco walked over to Iris. His fingers brushed her arm and she glanced up, her eyes still a little red. "You okay?" he asked softly.

She let out a soft sigh, not really answering, and rested her head on his shoulder.

In a couple of minutes, Henry was walking up to Jesse's side and starting his examination.

"Thank God you're here," Cisco said softly. "Caitlin's usually the one doing this but..." he trailed off, unable to finish.

Henry glanced at him, trying to figure out whether to push the topic of Caitlin and what exactly had happened further. He hadn't gotten much out of Barry; whenever the ex-speedster tried to talk about Caitlin his jaw went tight and his eyes hollow.

He chose to drop it for now. There would be another time. "Heart rates normal," Henry said instead. "Reflexes and breathing are fine... she should be waking up. She's just not."

"That was the same with Barry," Iris released. Henry glanced up, and she elaborated. "Um... after the first accident he was in a coma that no one could explain."

Henry's brow furrowed. "What did you do with him?"

"So," Cisco picked up. "They brought him here. Well, Wells brought him here."

"The other Wells," Iris added.

"Right, the Wells who was actually Thawn."

"Eobard Thawn, not Eddie."

"Right."

"It's- It's complicated," Iris hurried on, noticing Henry's expression of total befuddlement. "Anyway, we- they- took care off Barry while Wells - _Thawn_ \- treated him."

Henry nodded, picking up and commenting on the only bit he needed to know. "Are there any records of that treatment? We might find clues on how to help Jesse."

Cisco frowned. "Uh... yeah, they'd be downstairs in the storage room and morgue."

Iris glanced at him, giving him a weird look. "Ew, you guys have a morgue?"

"It's not like a morgue, morgue, it's like a- well, it's like a poor man's morgue really, morgue-ish."

"Would one of you go get them, please?" Henry asked, turning back to Jesse.

"Okay, well, I'm not going alone," Cisco muttered, glancing surreptitiously at Iris.

She rolled her eyes and turned to leave the room. Cisco's mouth scrunched as he followed her out. "Thank you."

The two of them walked down the hallway and toward the elevator, and Cisco pressed the down button. They waited in silence, and continued that way until they reached the morgue/storage room.

"Okay, so, it's a morgue morgue," Cisco said finally as they stepped into the chilly basement room, phone lights on. "But, you know, we had to keep the dead metahumans somewhere."

Iris raised her eyebrow as her gaze fell on a few instruments laid out on neat metal tables. "Yeah... looks like you did a lot more then just store them."

She picked something up that looked like a mix between a fork and toothpick, shuddered, and put it hurriedly back in it's place.

"Fake-Wells maybe have done a few dissections for study purposes," Cisco admitted, scanning his flashlight along the desk to look for Barry's medical records.

"This didn't tip any of you off that he might be secretly evil?"

"It was a crazy time, okay? We had a lot going on," Cisco said defensively.

She rolled her eyes, looking away from him, and Cisco turned back to his work. "I tell you what: It's a good thing Thawn was so organized."

A sudden clattering made Iris glance back towards the tech genius. "Would you stop knocking stuff over?"

Cisco scoffed. "You stop- I didn't touch anything."

"Okay, whatever you say." Iris said tolerantly, shaking her head.

"Okay," Cisco shut the door hurriedly. "This is it. This is Barry's x-file."

Suddenly, there was a large crashing noise, followed by the loud, distinctive bang of a heavy piece of metal. Cisco and Iris spun around. There, covered in a tattered green tank-top and looking more dead then alive (as in very, _very_ dead) was Girder.

Cisco's eyes widened, the light from his flashlight reflecting off of metal skin and an angry expression.

"A zombie? For real?"

Girder let out an animalistic roar that echoed in the dark morgue. Iris' eyes were huge. " _Tony_?!"

"Nope, not Tony, not anymore," Cisco stumbled back a few steps, holding out his arm in front of Iris. "Get behind me."

"You get behind _me_ ," she commanded, shoving past his arm and leaping in front of him.

He didn't argue and grabbed a wrench lying on the table beside them. Tony roared again and upturned a bench, causing tools and pieces of metal to go clanking and rolling across the floor.

"TONY!" Iris shouted, shining her light in the zombie's eyes.

Girder blinked, groaning, and held a hand up to block the light. He was momentarily distracted by a mirror, hanging from the ceiling over the table near Cisco and Iris, but then he let out another cry and smashed it.

Cisco and Iris both stumbled back with gasps of surprise, but then Tony turned and stomped towards the wall, away from them. In one easy movement, he smashed through the wall and out into the street.

The two of them looked after him in shock. "Didn't see that one coming," Cisco stuttered. "Zombie Girder."

"No," Iris said breathlessly. "No, no, I didn't either."

They turned towards each other, both in a state of half laughing, half terrified. Then Iris grabbed Cisco and planted a soft kiss on his lips. Cisco whimpered a little bit, hands finding her hips, but it wasn't long before she was pulling back.

"Wha-?"

"Sh," Iris cut him off. "Don't start stuttering and ruin the moment."

"Right..." Cisco mumbled, watching her with wide eyes. "Okay. We should... we should get upstairs."

Iris gave him a quick nod and released his shoulders. Then the two of them walked carefully through the destroyed lab and back to the Cortex.

 **Flash!**

"I don't understand." Barry and Caitlin were still sitting together on the bench in the park, watching the sun through the hazy clouds. "If I'm the Flash, then why are you doing this to me? Why do I have to catch this- this thing before you let me go back?! Please, look, I will do whatever you want, just please let me go back _right now_ so I can help my friends."

There was a sudden echoing noise, one of a familiar voice. Barry glanced up.

"Barry!" Cisco yelled, sounding like he was far, far away and in a large cavern. Over the water, a whirlwind of dust particles and lightning appeared. Barry started to his feet, walking closer.

"What is that?"

Caitlin stood up, too, walking to stand next to him. "Those are your friends," she told him. "They want you to come back."

Barry's stomach clenched like a fist. "Can I?"

"Of course," Caitlin said with one of her beautiful smiles, laughing a little. "But if you do, it'll be without your powers."

Barry looked away from her, back towards the tornado. He took a step foreword, but then a black shape flashed by him, faster then his eyes could almost make out. His head spun, following it. Caitlin looked too, then back at him. "The choice is yours, Barry."

The whirlwind dissipated as Barry turned away from it and started to run.

 **Flash!**

"What the heck is going on in here?!" Iris demanded as she, Joe and Henry came running down the Bunker steps. There was a swirling mass of lightning and particles where the breach usually appeared, and Harry was hunched over the control panel.

"Just a little longer, Ramon... a little longer..." he muttered.

Iris grabbed his shoulder angrily. "Hey! You're killing him!"

With a growl, Harry slammed on a button. The whirlwind disappeared and Cisco came into view, headpiece resting above his ears. He slumped against the metal bars in front of him, breathing heavily.

"Cisco," Iris gasped, running up the steps. "Hey, Cisco, can you hear me?"

Cisco nodded. He looked pale, drained. Iris laid a hand on his arm, concerned.

"I saw him," Cisco panted. "Barry, he turned to me." His shoulders slumped, tears filling up in his eyes and trickling down his cheeks. "I'm sorry. I lost him."

Henry slumped, and Harry's hands balled into fists, his head hanging down. Cisco yanked the headset off of his head, hands trembling as he rubbed his eyes. "I'm so sorry, Iris... I couldn't- I couldn't-"

Iris stepped around the contraption Cisco was holding on to and gathered him into her arms. His curls tickled her nose as he pressed his face into her shoulder, letting out a sob.

Henry, Harry and Joe tactfully took that moment to leave the room. Iris stroked Cisco's hair, kissing the top of his head. "Shh... It's okay, Cisco," she whispered. "It's okay. Nobody blames you. Come on," she tilted his chin up, wiping away his tears with her thumb, and gently kissed him for the second time that day. He let out a soft sigh, leaning into the kiss, the salt from his tears mixing in with their lips. Iris pulled back after a couple of moments, wiping her thumb across his cheek. "Let's get you some water. I think we all need a break."

He nodded, sniffling a little and wiping his eyes on the back of his hand. Iris took his hand, intertwining their fingers, and the two of them walked out of the Bunker together.

 **Flash!**

As Team Flash formulated a plan to catch Zombie Girder, Barry was kneeling by his mother's grave. He could feel the damp from the ground seeping through the fabric of his jeans; the humid, warm, Speed Force air ruffling his hair as Henry -or, the Speed Force, really- stood beside him, both of them staring at Nora Allen's gravestone.

"Why did you bring me here?" Barry asked softly, elbows resting on his knees.

"Your mother's death happened to you, Barry," Henry told him. "It made you who you are. But have you accepted it? Really _accepted_ loosing her?"

For the first time since he had entered the Speed Force, Barry felt actual tears welling in his eyes. It was enough that he was kept away from the people he cared about, enough that he was leaving them to their own devices, enough that he might not ever escape the prison he was in. Being at Nora's grave, however, was just too much.

"Maybe that's why you couldn't come here," Henry continued. "Because that would make it real."

"I know it's real," Barry said hoarsely, another tear dripping down his chin. "Every day I know it. I had a chance to save her. You saw what I chose."

"And your at piece with that decision?"

Barry huffed out a humorless laugh. "At _peace_? How could someone ever be at piece with letting his mother die?" He shook his head. "Deciding that his life is more valuable then her's?"

He let out a soft sob, wiping his cheek with the back of his hand. Henry crouched beside him, eyes still on the grave.

 _Beloved Wife and Mother: Nora Allen, 1959-2000._

"You really think your mother would have wanted you to die for her?" Henry asked him quietly. "And all the people the Flash saved as a result of that decision... what about them? Do their lives have value, too?"

Barry glanced up, and his eyes once again caught sight of the shadowy black figure. It hovered in between two other tombstones for a second before zipping off again.

Barry stood up, his hands clenching, the last of his tears slowing. "I don't have to listen to this," he grit out. "I have to get home."

He began to run.

 **Flash!**

The black shape led him back to his house.

He stopped running, breath filtering out in puffs of steam. There were lights on inside, so Barry went up the front steps and opened up the door.

At first the house seemed empty, but as he walked around the corner, his blood froze.

"Mom?"

Nora Allen smiled calmly at him from the kitchen table. "Hi, Barry."

Everything about her was exactly how Barry remembered. Her long, auburn hair, hair that had on more then one occasion reminded him of Caitlin's. Her warm smile. Her green eyes, like his.

But...

"You're not my mother," he rasped, watching the smile fade a little off of Nora's face. "Why are you doing this to me?"

"We're not doing anything to you, sweetheart," Nora said softly. "You're just so tired. Come. Sit."

He felt his shoulders slump, his eyes filling as he moved towards the chair beside his mother.

"You were right all along," he said quietly, shaking his head. "I haven't accepted it. Not for a second. And I don't think I ever will."

Nora reached across the table gently taking his hand. "My beautiful boy," she said in such a familiar, quiet, Nora-like voice it almost made Barry's heart break. "You have to find a way."

"How?"

"I don't know," Nora said. "But I know this: What you've become... it's wonderful. A miracle, even. But it won't make bad things stop happening to you. Even the Flash can't outrun the tragedies the universe is going to keep sending your way. You have to accept that. And then you can truly run free."

Barry nodded, a tear trickling down his face. "I know," he cried. "I just miss her. I miss you, so much."

Nora slipped out of her chair, kneeling on the ground in front of him, their fingers still intertwined. "What if I told you that she's proud of you? And of the man that you've become?"

Her voice choked up a bit, tears glistening in her eyes, and it was hard for Barry not to believe that it truly was his mother crouching in front of him.

"Who's telling me that?" Barry asked softly. "The Speed Force or my mother?"

Her hand reached up, cupping his cheek.

"Both."

 **Flash!**

"Turn it on," Cisco said, walking hurriedly around the small table with Barry's torn suit placed on it. "We have to try again."

Henry's jaw tensed, and Joe shook his head. Cisco glared at him, placing the headset he had used earlier to try to get to Barry in the Speed Force over his head. "You got a better idea?"

"When you look into the Speed Force, can someone else see into it, too?" Henry asked.

"As long as your in physical contact with Ramon while he's vibing," Harry answered. "Yes."

"Let me do that," Henry begged. "I can get Barry to come back."

Cisco's eyes slid down, feeling the heavy weight of his failure from this morning come crashing back down on him.

"No," Iris said abruptly, stepping foreword. "Let me do it. I mean... we all know that Caitlin is the best choice. If anyone can get Barry to come back, it's her. But since she... well, she can't be here. So I think- I think that Cisco and I could do it. Please."

Henry smiled slightly, reaching out to squeeze her wrist. She nodded at him, and slipped her small, soft hand into Cisco's. He tightened his grip slightly, leaning down and gently kissing her. It felt strange to be able to do that, after so long of pining and never sharing how he felt.

Then he placed his hand on the scrap of suit and shut his eyes.

Almost immediately, grey clouds and lightning filled his vision. He glanced at Iris, making sure she was still with him. She had her eyes trained on him, looking calm. He could feel her pulse, though, underneath his fingers, pounding away.

Standing in the living room of his old house, freshly clothed in his Flash suit, having finally caught the dark shadow that had been haunting him throughout the Speed Force, Barry looked up. In front of him was a swirling mass of grey clouds.

"Barry..."

He heard a quiet, echoey voice call from somewhere inside. Iris.

He smiled slightly at the sound of his sister's voice, and took a few slow steps foreword.

"Barry," Iris said again. "Come home to us. Caitlin needs you. Come home."

Barry glanced back. His mother had stood from the couch, her hands clasped and a small smile on her face.

"Run, Barry," she whispered. "Run."

He nodded at her, and then turned back to the hurricane swirling in his living room. He could hear Iris' voice echoing in his head.

 _Caitlin needs you_.

Taking a deep breath, he stepped into the mist, and grabbed Iris' hand.

 **Flash!**

After Girder had been dealt with, Barry found himself at Jesse's bedside. She was still very much unconscious, her condition not having changed at all since she got hit by the explosion blast.

Harry was in his chair by his daughter's side, hand clasped between his own. He stood up when Barry walked into the room, clearing his throat stiffly. "You- you should be resting. You don't need to be here."

"No, that's just it," Barry said quietly, approaching Jesse. "I think I do."

He reached down and slipping his hand into her's. Immediately, there was a small flash of lightning, zipping around their fingertips before vanishing again.

Then Jesse's head tilted to the side and her lips parted. She sighed, like she was just waking up, and her eyes opened.

"Hi."

Barry smiled at her, feeling a strange sense of purpose as watched the amazement bloom on everyone's faces.

The rest of them left Jesse and Harry to reunite alone.

He found himself in Caitlin's lab with his father. Henry gave him a quick checkup, making sure he was alright after his trip to the Speed Force. They talked for a bit, about fate and life and how everything was exactly how it should be.

"While we're on the subject of changing our minds about important things," Henry said, sitting down beside his son. "You know know that part where I told you I was going to leave Central City so that you could be the Flash without you having to be concerned about me all the time? Well... forget all that. You're stuck with me."

Barry grinned, and Henry bumped his shoulder. "I'm not going anywhere."

Barry leaned foreword, pressing his face into Henry's shoulder and wrapping an arm around him. Henry rubbed his back. "And, you know, I can't miss the wedding. Because I promise you, there is going to be a wedding."

 **Flash!**

Barry went to his mother's grave as soon as he could get away from the rest of Team Flash.

It wasn't as if he wasn't happy to see them, he just needed some time alone.

He crouched in front of the tomb, the air not quite as damp as it had been in the Speed Force, but everything pretty much the same. Barry gently touched the stone, fingers rubbing along the engraving. "Joe offered to take me here so many times and- and I always said no."

He leaned back, smiling slightly. "I wanted to... I wanted to come with Caitlin. I almost asked her a few times but... I just couldn't do it. And now I'm here and she- she's not."

Barry's voice cracked slightly and sniffed, once, hard. "Maybe... maybe we can come back. Once I can get her home. I'm going to save her. I _have_ to save her."

Across town at the overrun CCPD, Zoom had just left Caitlin's room with a choice.

 _Stay here, and you will remained unharmed. Or you can go home. But don't expect me to be any gentler on you then any of your friends_.

Cuffs lying open on the floor, Caitlin got to her feet.

It was time to go home.

 **Author's Note: OH MY GOSH 2x22 IS NEXT! EEEEK I can't wait!**


	22. 2x22

**Author's Note: You may or may not believe that I mentally pre-wrote the scene where Caitlin comes back to STAR Labs no less then 20 times.**

 **And now I finally get to write a down. A bit surreal, to be honest.**

 **Thank you to the guest commenter who gave me an extra idea for this chapter! It's really quite a good one.**

As soon as Barry could, he went looking for Caitlin.

It wasn't particularly hard. Zoom had made it clear where he was hiding, and all that was left for Barry to do was to run to the CCPD and faze through the wall.

There were a bunch of people milling around the main room in the building, and Barry didn't waist any time starting his search. He checked all of the rooms on the first floor at super speed, and, finding them empty, travelled upstairs.

At first glance, the upstairs seemed to be empty, too. But as Barry flashed into the third to last room along the hall, something caught his eye.

A pair of handcuffs, lying on the ground.

Barry knelt to the ground, inspecting them and the floor. There was a box of supplies, the lid half off like it had been taken off hastily and replaced even quicker. He peered at the table leg close to the handcuffs.

Scratches in the wood.

The conclusion came to Barry like a bullet to the chest. This was where Zoom had held Caitlin. Then where was she?

That answer came slower, but more painful. If Caitlin wasn't here there could only be one option.

She was...

 _No_.

Barry's hands hit the floor and he felt like he had been punched in the stomach. He was too late. Zoom had snapped. He had...

He had killed her.

 _Caitlin Snow was dead_.

Vaguely in his grief stricken mind, Barry had the inkling that he had to get out of the CCPD before someone found him. He fazed back through the wall, ran down the building, and shot down the street.

He ran.

He wasn't quite sure he was when a text buzzed his phone. He slowed to a stop in the middle of an empty street and pulled it out.

 _Come quick. -Cisco_

Glancing around him, Barry found a road sign leading him back to STAR City. He felt strangely numb, like he wasn't able to register anything happening around him. If Caitlin was dead there was nothing. Nothing.

He began to run back to STAR Labs, meeting Cisco in the hallway. Cisco's face was a mix between overjoyed, shocked, and relieved. Barry bit his lip. Cisco deserved to know, but he couldn't say it. Not now.

"You have to come see this," Cisco grinned suddenly, rushing back into the Cortex.

Barry followed him around the corner, and his heart stopped beating.

Because as Henry moved aside from a chair in the Cortex, there was Caitlin. She was very much alive, nodded at Henry with a shaky, "I'm alright."

She glanced up as the two of them came in, and her eyes went large and brown and teary. Barry was at her side before he realized he was moving, pulling her up and into his arms.

She pressed her face into the crook of his neck, fisting his shirt with her fingers so tightly it almost hurt.

"Caitlin..." Barry murmured, then stopped, because he wasn't sure if he could say anything else without bursting into tears. She was _alive_ , her brown hair tickling his nose, the bump of her ribs underneath his fingertips through her shirt, her soft cheek brushing his shoulder.

 _Alive alive alive._

Slowly, reluctantly, Barry let her go. Caitlin sat back down heavily, her hands trembling as Barry clasped them tightly in his own. He didn't go far, just dropped to his knees in front of her chair, eyes soaking up every bit of her he could.

"What happened?" he asked, voice hoarse. "How did you get away?"

"He... let me go." She was very nearly in tears, eyes sparkling in the soft light of the Cortex, lips wobbling. "I didn't think he would- I thought it was a trap."

Her hands tightened around Barry's for a half second and her voice splintered. "He told me you were dead."

Barry knew the feeling. "I'm not," he assured her softly, lifting one hand up and kissing it. "I'm right here. We're all here."

Caitlin nodded quickly, biting her lip. She glanced up at her friends then quickly down at Barry, like she was afraid he would disappear if she looked away for too long.

"Snow," Harry spoke up quietly. "Jay's not here. You're safe."

Caitlin shook her head, more tears welling but somehow not yet spilling over. "He's going to overrun this city. You can't stop him."

"We can," Barry told her confidently. All of the shadows that had invaded his mind over the past couple of weeks, and really, his entire life had been scared away by the beaming light that was Caitlin. _Home. Safe. Alive._ "Listen to me: he's not going to succeed. We've got this. This is _our_ Earth."

"You don't know that; you don't know what he is capable of," Caitlin said, her eyes looking haunted. Barry wanted nothing more then to grab her in his arms and hide her from all of the horrors that their life was filled with.

He settled for kissing her hand again, tucking it under his chin. "I know from being in the Speed Force that the universe is with us, not Zoom. And if the universe is with us, how could we possibly lose?" He glanced over his shoulder at his team. "Right guys?"

There was a slightly uncomfortable silence, and then Jesse hurriedly glanced at her father and back. "Uh, yeah. Right!" she agreed uncomfortably.

Barry reached up and brushed Caitlin cheek. "You've been through a lot. You should get some rest; come on."

He helped her up, arm around her waist and the other still clasped in her hand. Caitlin stared at him, the scientist in her getting the better of her exhaustion and fear. "You were in the Speed Force?"

Barry smiled, glad to see the familiar little spark of interest return to her eyes. "It's hard to explain... but when we tried to get my powers back..."

He gave her the recapped explanation as they walked up the steps to her lab. Her eyes were starting to droop by the time he got to the end of his story, but she nodded. "I wish I could have been here."

Barry laughed softly, reached around her and hugging her tightly again. "Me too. I- oh _God_ Caitlin, I missed you. I was terrified I was never going to see you again."

She pulled back a little, biting her lip again and eyes slipping downward. "Barry... There's something you should know. When- when Zoom kidnapped me..."

His stomach turned to lead. " _What did he do to you_?!" he asked, anger welling up.

Caitlin's lips wobbled and suddenly the tears in her eyes got to be too much and began to fall down her cheeks. "He- Barry- he took my ring."

Barry went still, eyes shooting down Caitlin's hand. It was empty.

Sudden rage filled him. If Barry ever got ahold of him, Zoom would be _dead_. Not only had he kidnapped and hurt the person Barry cared about most in the world, but he had taken his mother's ring, the last thing Barry had of Nora's.

Caitlin let out a sob. "I'm so sorry- I tried to stop him- I tried to get it back, but- but- he's just so _fast_ -"

Barry glanced down, anger fading. She could actually think...?

"Cait..." he reached down and cupped her cheeks, gently kissing her. It was like being a dead man and breathing again, so amazingly clear and everything he hadn't realized he needed. He was reluctant to pull away but he had to make sure she knew. "Caitlin, I'm not mad at you. Oh _man_ , no- none of this is your fault."

She nodded, face pressed into his shirt, and he let out a long, slow sigh. "You need rest. Come on, get into bed."

He helped her with her shoes and pulled back the covers, watching as she slipped down and rested her head on the pillow. He started to sit down in a chair but she grabbed his arm. "Can you- stay with me? Just for a little bit, until I fall asleep?"

Barry swallowed hard, tears of his own blurring his vision for a moment again, and nodded. He took off his shoes and cardigan and curled around her. Caitlin tucked her head against his chest, kissing the underside of his chin, and was asleep in seconds.

Barry hadn't intended to fall asleep- it was the middle of the day, and it hadn't been long since he woke up- but he too felt his eyes slipping close, Caitlin's steady breathing sending him into oblivion.

 **Flash!**

Barry had just woken up when Cisco came into Caitlin's lab. He smiled at the two of them, patting Barry's shoulder.

"Went out like a light, huh?"

"Yeah." Barry ran a finger across Caitlin's cheek, watching her eyelids flutter and a slight smile pass across her face as he moved his hand to her hair, stroking it gently. "Jay really did a number on her."

Cisco huffed out a humorless laugh. "It's not like he exactly used kid gloves on the rest of us."

Barry sighed, and gently began to extract himself from around Caitlin. She murmured in her sleep, but soon settled back down agains the pillows.

"She'll be okay," Barry said, moving to stand beside Cisco instead. "She just needs time. For us to finally bring Zoom down." He turned and glanced at Cisco. "Which we will."

"Yeah..." Cisco said, giving him a look. "Because "the universe is with us", huh?"

Barry sighed, and Cisco gave him a smile. "Listen man-"

Suddenly, his face went completely blank. Barry watched him, frowning. "Cisco?"

There was no response.

"Ciiiiisco...?" Barry tried again, waving a hand in front of his face. "Hey, are you okay? Did you just vibe?"

Cisco shook his head slowly, as if to clear it. "Yeah," he breathed.

"What did you see?"

"I saw a bird..." Cisco murmured, squinting a little. "Like a dead bird."

Before Barry could answer, an alarm went off at someone's computer. The boys exchanged glances and ran out of Caitlin's lab.

"Mercury Labs," Barry said, reading the computer screen.

"It's under attack."

"Alright," Barry said, and ran towards his suit.

He found Dr. McGee falling through a sea of wreckage. The floor had crumbled, and pieces of the wall were beginning to fall through the gaping holes. Barry ran through the mess, skidding across slabs of stone and around stray wires until he reached the scientist.

He grabbed her around the waist and sprinted her outside to safety. It didn't take long for the entire building of Mercury labs to come crumbling down.

"Thank you, Mr. Allen," Dr. McGee said softly.

Barry spun to her, shocked.

Dr. McGee rolled her eyes. "I'm not stupid."

He grinned, and the two of them turned back to watch the rest of the building settle into a pile of rubble.

 **Flash!**

When Tina and Barry returned to STAR Labs, Caitlin had woken up. Someone had brought her a change of clothes -grey STAR Labs shirt, sweatshirt, and jeans- and she had thrown her hair into a messy ponytail. She looked impossibly adorable, a little pale, maybe, bangs falling in her face like she was in high school again.

As Tina walked into the Cortex, Barry pulled Caitlin in for another hug. She kissed his cheek, just as happy to see him.

"How're you doing?" he asked seriously, looking into her eyes.

She gave him a weak smile. "A lot better, actually. Still a bit tired... but better."

"Okay," he nodded, squeezing her shoulders. "Let me know if you need anything, okay? Anything at all."

She nodded her agreement and the two of them walked into the Cortex.

"So," Barry started, pulling off his gloves. "How did you know-"

"You're real identity?" Dr. McGee finished.

"Yeah."

"Oh come on Barry, I'm a scientist. We're paid to be perceptive. And you're always a little too well-informed when things go pear-shaped in this City."

Barry snickered, and Dr. McGee turned to Henry. "But... I don't think we've met before. Dr. Christina McGee."

"Dr. Henry Allen," Henry said, shaking her hand. "I'm Barry's father."

"Okay," Barry interrupted. "Now that the cat's out of the bag, you didn't happen to see who it was who caused your building to collapse."

Dr. McGee dropped Henry's hand and shook her head. "I didn't see anything- it all happened so fast."

"Maybe he security camera's caught something?" Caitlin suggested softly.

Barry nodded and Henry leaned foreword. "Can we access them?"

"Mercury Labs does have a crash-survivable memory unit," Dr. McGee supplied.

"A what?"

"Virtually a black box for buildings," she elaborated. "It will have stored all the security footage right up until the building collapsed."

"Okey, great, I'll go find it," Barry offered. "This wasn't some random metahuman. Whenever Mercury Labs has been targeted in the past, there's always been a specific reason."

"Yeah," Cisco agreed. "Someone's after something."

"Yes, and that someone's probably Zoom," Caitlin added.

Barry's mouth shifted unhappily to the side. He hadn't wanted the conversation or Caitlin's thoughts to go anywhere near Zoom for as long as physically possible considering how relevant the malefactor was in their lives.

"There may be one more possibility," Dr. McGee said. "A few months ago I saw Harrison Wells running out of my facility. I know it sounds crazy but I'm certain it was him. Is there anyway that he could have anything to do with this?"

There was an awkward silence as everyone in the know exchanged glances. Barry opened his mouth to speak, but someone else cut him off.

"A few months ago, sure."

Everyone turned to find Harry standing in the doorway, holding a mug of coffee. Dr. McGee's mouth dropped open.

"Now?" Harry shook his head. "No."

Barry winced. "Yeah, there are a few more things that we could catch you up on."

 **Flash!**

An alert from one of Cisco's apps brought the team rushing into the Cortex. Up on one of the screens, a picture of a building with a lightning bolt blazoned on the front.

"What is that?" Barry demanded.

"It's CCPD," Cisco responded, leaning against the desk.

' " _Zoom_."

"Barry," Henry spoke up. "Don't do it-"

Barry had already flashed off down the hallway, running towards the precinct. He came to a stop in the entranceway of a his lab, keeping close to the wall.

Jay's back was to him. He was standing at Barry's bulletin board, staring a few pieces of pinned paper. "You know," he said softly. "I never saw the crime scene photos of my mother's murder. But I guess I didn't need to. Too delicate, I suppose."

He turned slowly, the dark lightning in Barry's lab making him look like a murderer in a horror movie. Barry supposed the comparison wasn't so far off.

"Not just a hologram, are you Flash?" he asked, peering a Barry. " _Interesting_."

Barry shook his head. The rage that was bubbling inside of him at seeing the man who had caused Caitlin so much pain was getting hard to control. "I know you didn't call me up here just to banter. Let's finish this. Right now."

"Actually, I did," Jay said. "I called you up here to tell you that you can't keep running from one meta to the next. Round and around, like a dog chasing it's tail."  
"We'll do whatever it takes to stop you."

"If only that were good enough." Jay sighed. "Because here's the thing. I know you. I know you, and I know what's holding you back. You and me... we're really just the same person."

Barry scoffed. He had begun to walk while Jay was talking, and now was facing him, both of their sides to the wall. "Yeah, you keep saying that. It's not gonna make it true."

"You'll see. We are." Jay turned back to the board. "Same tragic background," he offered, hand on the newspaper article, the story showing his mother's death. "Same reason for running. Same desire to be the fastest. To be the best. The difference? You think your anger is dirty somehow. You want to be seen as pure; the hero. Doesn't it get exhausting? Doesn't it get exhausting, Barry?! _It was exhausting_ playing Jay- believe me."

The rage had cooled to something harder. Something more substantial.

 _Fury_.

"I'm not pretending."

He jolted foreword, about to run, but the sound of crumbling stone made him pause.

"Now if it were me," Jay said, pointing one clawed finger out the window. "I'd let that building tumble without a second thought, but you... you'll never let that happen, will you? _That's_ why I'm gonna beat you, Barry. Because you always have to be the hero."

The roof of the building crumbled inwards. Barry's gaze shot from Jay's face, there, and then back again.

"While you're playing the good little boy," Jay said, smirking. "I'll be busy winning."

 **Flash!**

Barry was called away from his chat with Wally West by another metahuman alert. He skidding to a stop in the middle of an empty city intersection, street lamps reflecting off the pavement.

His blood went cold. Because there stood a very alive, very real, Laurel Lance.

"Why is it always so difficult to choose?" she said, smiling coyly at him.

"Barry, what is it?" Cisco asked through the com.

"It's..." Barry's voice trailed off. "It's _Laurel Lance_."

Laurel just smirked. She took a few steps toward him.

"Laurel."

Laurel laughed. "Laurel Lance is dead. One this Earth, anyway. Poor Black Canary. Bye bye, birdy."

"Earth 2 Laurel..." Cisco muttered.

"Did you know her doppelgänger?" Harry asked.

Caitlin sighed. "We didn't just know her. We loved her."

Back in the middle of the street, Barry and Laurel circled each other. "So," Barry asked, eyeing her up and down warily. "What do I call you?"

"You can call me... the Black Siren," Laurel said. "Zoom mentioned that you might be showing up."

"Well if he told you what I can do, you should look more afraid," Barry bluffed.

Laurel laughed, rolling her eyes. "And so _should you_."

"Tell me," Barry said. "Why did you take down Mercury Labs?"

"Because I like to watch things crumble and fall," The Black Siren had stopped circling and began to advance. "Guess what? You're next, Red."

On that ominous note, she opened up her mouth and let out a piercing scream. Barry was thrown backwards, back hitting the pavement as his ears rang like splitting church bells.

He rolled on the ground, groaning, hands over his ears, but didn't have any time to get up before Laurel screamed again.

A voice cut through the agony in his head. "Barry?" Caitlin asked, her voice small and scared. "Are you okay? Barry?"

Harry released his breath and nodded at the computer. "Look. Anything over 200 decibels would kill a human."

Caitlin bit her lip. The computer read 250.

"Was that too loud?" Laurel asked, stalking towards Barry. He tried to struggle to his feet, ears ringing and head feeling like it was going to split. "Perhaps we should quiet things down a bit."

She punched Barry in the face, once, twice, then nailed his chest with a back spin kick.

He stumbled backward, disoriented, but before he could regain his balance Laurel had shoved him onto his back with a push kick.

"You know the sad thing is?" she asked, still just as calm as before, not a hair out of place. "I think Zoom's actually afraid of you. I didn't think he feared anything. And you... you're hardly worth the choice. How many metas did he send to try and kill you?" Laurel continued, walking towards Barry. "Well it's too bad. He should've just sent me because that way, you would have already been-"

Out of nowhere, a silver car skidding across the street and slammed into Laurel. Barry choked in surprise, staring in horrified amazement and Laurel rolled across the ground, groaning.

The car door opened and Wally West poked his head out. He gestured furiously to Barry. "Get in!"

Barry stumbled to his feet with a pain groan, climbing into the car and hurriedly blurring his face so that Wally couldn't tell who he was.

They pulled out with a squeal of tires, Wally grinning widely the whole time. "Thought you might need a lift," he said.

"Yeah," Barry groaned, still panting from the fight. "Thanks."

Then he pulled together whatever strength he still had left and flashed out of the car, back towards his friends at STAR Labs.

 **Flash!**

When Barry got back to STAR Labs, Caitlin was there to meet him in the hallway with a quick, tight hug. It had felt like an eternity of not being able to hug him, to touch him, to patch him up, and now she couldn't help but take every opportunity she got.

The two of them went into the Cortex and Caitlin sat Barry down in a chair. She used a Q-Tip to wipe the blood from his ears, sighing as she did so.

"Why do so many metahumans use sound as a weapon?"

Barry glanced up, everything still sounding foggy and muted. "WHAT?" he asked, very loudly.

Caitlin laughed. It was the first time that she had since she had gotten back from Zoom's lair, and it made Barry smile, even though he wasn't quite sure _why_ she was laughing.

"Nothing," Caitlin said, taking off her latex gloves and kissing his cheek. "You're gonna be fine."

"Thanks," he murmured, a little quieter.

"So Wally just drove on up into the thick of it," Joe said, coming over from his spot in the doorway to face Barry. "That must have been some conversation you guys had. Seeing as though he did _literally_ the opposite of what we wanted."

Barry sighed, sent Caitlin a slightly cheeky grin, and took off his gloves. "Guess I can hear," he muttered.

Joe rolled his eyes. "Funny."

He talked to Barry for a moment while Caitlin put away her supplies, but soon he left, leaving the two of them alone.

Caitlin followed Barry up into her lab, reaching around his waist and resting her cheek on his shoulder. He smiled down at her, brushing her hair out of her face. "I love you."

"I love you, too," Caitlin whispered. "So much."

She cuddled a little closer, enjoying the silence and warmth of Barry simply holding her. But there _was_ something they needed to talk about.

"Barry... do you really think we can win?"

Barry tilted his head, looking at her quizzically.

"I just- I just mean..." Caitlin bit her lip, unsure of how to phrase what she was trying to say. "Well, you seem so sure, and so confident, and so unafraid, and while it's really nice to know that at least one of us is positive about our outcome... I'm scared, Barry. I'm scared of what Zoom could do to you- of what any of the metas he brought over could do to you. I mean... you'd be dead if it wasn't for Wally-"

"And that's exactly why I am so confident about our chances, Cait," Barry jumped in.

Caitlin wrinkled her nose, confused. "Because of Wally?"

Barry laughed, kissing her nose and sitting down with her still wrapped in his arms. "Because of all of us. I have a team. I have Cisco, and Wally, and Joe and Iris and Harry and _you._ And I've been in the Speed Force. I've seen how things work. I have a different perspective on life then I did before, and I think that if we put our work into something that is going to do good, then we will be okay."

Caitlin nodded, tucking her head under his chin and sighing into his shirt.

"And I promise, Caitlin," Barry continued. "I will never let Zoom hurt you again."

 **Flash!**

Caitlin was with Cisco when she saw her first hallucination of Zoom. She let out a gasp, stumbling against the table, heart pounding in her mouth as his tall, dark figure stepped closer to her.

Then Cisco popped into her line of sight, looking worried. "Caitlin?" he asked in concern. "Caitlin, are you okay?"

She shook her head, and he quickly opened up his arms for a hug.

"I can't- I can't get him out of my head, Cisco," she gasped, fighting tears. "How can I move on from this if I can't even get him out of my head? I don't think I'm ever going to be whole again."

"Of course you will," Cisco said firmly, rubbing her back. "We are going to stop Zoom, okay? I'm swear to you, none of us are going to let Jay near you."

She nodded tearfully, sniffling, and Cisco squeezed her tighter. "Do you want me to call Barry?"

Caitlin nodded again and Cisco sent a quick text to the speedster. Barry arrived in seconds, and though it was stupid and she _knew_ it was him, Caitlin was halfway to a full blown panic attack and the sound of speed lightning made her start to shake all over.

"Oh, God, Caitlin, I'm so sorry," Barry said, his face a mask of self-loathing as he hurried over. "I shouldn't have come running in here- that was so stupid. I'm so sorry."

"No, no, it's okay. It's okay," Caitlin babbled, as Cisco passed her from his arms to Barry's. "It's stupid... I know it's you."

"It's not stupid," Barry murmured, kissing the top of her head. "Come on, lets go get you some tea or something."

He threaded his arm around her shoulders and led her out of the room, nodding a quick goodbye-and-thanks to Cisco as he went. The tech wiz nodded back, wanting to go with them but knowing he needed to stay and work on the tech solution they had come up with to take down Zoom's metas.

Caitlin leaned her head on Barry's shoulder as they walked down the corridor. She felt exhausted, and wanted nothing more then for the two of them to go home and get some sleep.

She shut her eyes for a moment, imagining the two of them curled up in her warm, cozy bed. Barry was playing with the ends of her hair, the two of them watching the shaft of sunlight coming in through her window slowly moving across the floor as it got later and later in the day. Caitlin wanted the little piece of domesticity to much that it nearly hurt.

They walked into the Cortex, and Caitlin was jarred rudely out of her daydreaming. Barry quickly heated up some water and gave her a cup of tea. She curled up in her chair, sipping it, until the warmth pooled in her stomach and she was feeling less stressed then before. Also six times more tired, but she could cope with that.

As she got to the last dregs of her tea, Barry came over and sat on the desk beside her. "Alright, so you can totally veto this, but I was wondering if this afternoon, if, you know, no one needs up, if you'd like to do some wedding planning."

She blinked up at him, surprised and a little confused at the suggestion. "Wedding planning? Now?"

"Yeah." Barry shrugged, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. "I thought that it would be good for both of us to try and have a little more normality in our lives today. And besides, I just want to marry you already and I can't do that without planning a wedding."

Caitlin giggled, reached over and squeezing his knee. "Wedding planning sounds really nice. I don't know if I'll be awake for it, but I'd like to try and find a time."

Barry grinned happily, and leaned down to kiss her. "Awesome. Looking foreword to it."

 **Flash!**

Caitlin was surprised that they actually got to go home and rest. She had thought that will the mess of metas (or the "Metapocalypse," as Iris was calling it on her blog) would be too much work to send the Flash home for a break.

But Cisco practically shoved them out the door after Caitlin fell asleep at her desk and Barry accidentally ran into a wall he was so tired. "Go home, you two. I can tell you want to."

And Caitlin did, quite a bit. Barry flashed them home, thankfully not hitting anymore walls or doors or other inanimate objects along the way. They collapsed into bed after changing and eating a quick dinner, and Caitlin cuddled up to Barry's chest, letting out a long sigh of contentment.

"So... I'm guessing that wedding planning is off for the evening?" Barry mumbled in her ear.

She giggled. "No, no, we can still do it. If you want to get up and get a piece of paper to write things down."

"Who needs paper when you have the Notes App?" Barry scoffed, reaching over to the bedside table to grab his phone. "What are we working on tonight?"

"Mmm..." Caitlin blinked blearily at the light. "Write down everyone who's going to be in the wedding. Like us as the bride and groom, Iris as the maid of honor and Felicity as a bridesmaid, and then Cisco as best man and Oliver as a groomsman. And after I ask Joe if he'll walk me down, you can include that bit, too."

"He'll say yes," Barry said confidently, writing him down. "Come on, Cait, it's _Joe_."

She shrugged. "Still gonna ask."

He kissed her hair, rolling his eyes. "I'm going to put down our color, too. Red?"

"Red. We'll have to look at shades later."

"You and the girls can do that. It's all the same to me," Barry grinned. "There's Flash red and there's Flash red."

"Cocky, much?" Caitlin teased, nudging him in the ribs. A giant yawn forced itself out of her mouth. "Alright what's-" another yawn. "Next?"

Barry clicked his phone of an placed it back on the table. Then he rolled both of them over kissing Caitlin all over her face and making her squeal with surprise and amusement.

"I think you-" he pecked her on the lips once, twice, then one more time for good measure. "Need- to- go- to- bed."

She giggled as he nuzzled her neck and ran his fingers up her sides. "Somebody's in a good mood."

"Mmmhmm..." He trundled her into a little ball in his arms and nuzzled her face again. Caitlin felt her eyes starting to droop against her will. She really _was_ tired. " 'Cause I'm lying in bed with my beautiful girlfriend who is home safe and never leaving."

Caitlin smiled gently at him, fighting her exhaustion. "I love you."

"Love you, too," Barry murmured, and Caitlin finally shut her eyes.

The two of them were asleep in minutes.

 **Flash!**

The next day, Team Flash came up with the slightly insane idea to dress Caitlin and Cisco up at their metahuman counterparts to trick Black Siren.

It was a strange sort of fun, putting on a white wig and leather costume, having Barry run her to her favorite makeup store so she could purchase blue lipstick, and putting all of it on. And besides, Barry's nod of flustered approval when she came out of the bathroom all done up was totally worth it.

"You may have to, um," he cleared his throat and swallowed a couple of times. "Uh... wear blue lipstick more often. It, um... yeah."

She grinned, winked, and patted his shoulder. "Only for you, darling."

Of course, the plan went sideways. Black Siren saw right through "Reverb and Killer Frost" and they were sent running off through the decrepit building that the meta was hiding out in.

They got backed into the corner, panicked, and then Cisco suddenly discovered that he could shoot vibes out of his hand.

"What the- _what_?!" Caitlin cried, staring down at her friend, and then back at the crumpled form of the Black Siren.

"I don't- I don't-"

"Well do it again!" she exclaimed, because Laurel was getting to her feet and coming towards them again.

But try as he might, Cisco couldn't seem to get another vibe to blast out. Right before Cisco and Caitlin thought they would be dissolved by a Canary Cry, a rippling wave of sound brought Laurel to her knees.

The tech that targeted the sound waves of people from Earth 2 had worked, and Caitlin and Cisco made a run for it while they could.

Back at the Bunker, Team Flash was running into some trouble. Jesse's headphones, designed to protect her from the sound waves, hadn't worked. Harry had switched with her, giving her his so that she would remain safe, and that's how Caitlin and Cisco found him, unconscious in a bed at STAR Labs.

Harry was looking after him, and he would be alright, so Cisco, Caitlin and Barry all went down to the pipeline to lock the Black Siren up.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Cisco was facing the door to the pipeline cell, watching the sound waves flowing from Black Siren's mouth. "What's that? I can't- I can't here you through the double paned sound-proof glass. It's kinda- it's kinda hard to make out... what you're... saying..."

Barry and Caitlin watched him. Caitlin shook her head. "So, should we tell Sara and Captain Lance about her?"

"No," Barry said, shaking his head. "I've seen what interacting with your family's doppelgangers can do. That's not even Laurel."

Cisco had ceased his taunting and shut the door to Laurel's cage. "Nope!" he agreed. "It's just a poor imitation. Speaking of..." he walked over to the couple and grinned at Caitlin. "That was a pretty good Killer Frost you did back there."

"Guess I was just in the right head space to imitate a cold, vicious killer, considering how much time I had spent with one," Caitlin said with a shrug.

Barry glanced at her, tilted his head. He had forced her to go home the night before and get some rest, but there had been no sleep in or watching the sunlight creep across the floor for them. Maybe tomorrow.

"How are you doing? Are you okay?"

Caitlin sighed. "No," she admitted. "But I think I'm gonna be. Being out there with you guys, fighting metahumans... saving people. It was the first time I felt... normal in a long time."

"C'mere," Barry murmured, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and kissing the top of her head.

Cisco grinned. "This is a group hug moment."

"Yeah," Barry agreed and Caitlin giggled, both of them opening up their arms and letting Cisco step in until they were all pressed together.

And Caitlin knew for sure, right then, that she _would_ be okay.

 **Flash!**

Caitlin caught Joe walking down the hallway towards the elevator, headed home. "Joe!" she called. "Can I, uh, talk to you for a moment?"

He stopped and turned around, looking at her with a curious smile. "Of course. What's up?"

"Um..." Caitlin tugged at her hair and bit her lip. "So, as you know, my father is, well, he's dead. So I don't have anyone to walk me down the aisle when Barry and I get married." She glanced up, and saw that tears were already starting in Joe's eyes. Smiling, she continued. "I was wondering if you would do me the honor of walking me down the aisle in his place?"

Joe's mouth wobbled a little and he pulled her into a very tight hug. "Caitlin... It would be my honor."

Eyes a little wet herself, Caitlin hugged him back. "Thank you, Joe. Thank you so much."

 **Flash!**

That night, Barry and his father drove back to Joe's house. Barry was a little disappointed: Caitlin had left STAR Labs in a hurry after a brief conversation with Cisco, and when he had texted her to see if she wanted company she hadn't responded.

Henry followed him up the steps, and Barry opened the door. His mouth fell open a little. "Uh... what is this?"

"Blame Caitlin!" Cisco said immediately.

Caitlin grinned, flushing a little. "I just figured, since Henry is back for good, that we should celebrate. And since Zoom is gone and the city is quiet right now... Iris helped with the idea."

Iris nudged her, giggling, and Henry took off his coat. "I appreciate it, Caitlin _and Iris_. Thank you."

He walked further into the house, and smiled at the sigh of Dr. McGee on the couch, talking with Jesse. "Hi Tina."

"Hello Henry," she said back, a little awkwardly.

Jesse stood up immediately with a slightly-knowing smile and left them the couch.

"I hope you don't mind that I invited Dr. McGee," Caitlin said, scrunching up her nose a bit.

"Seems like... somebody's glad you did," Barry said with a grin. "You are quite the matchmaker, aren't you?"

Caitlin giggled. "I'll have you know, Mr. Allen, that Cisco and Iris are going on their first date tomorrow evening."

He raised his eyebrow. "Is that so? Well, good for them." He bent down and kissed her lightly on the nose. "I love you."

"I love you, too," Caitlin said back, smiling.

Wally came out of the kitchen with a basket of bread, and Jesse met him at the table. "So, I, uh, heard you save the Flash's life."

Wally looked embarrassed, but pleased. "Ah, you know. Right place, right time."

Joe looked up and nodded. "I'm proud of you, son," he said, giving Wally a serious look."

Wally grinned down at his hands, and Jesse smiled widely. He glanced up at her. "What?"

"What? Uh, nothing. I guess I'm just... proud of you too."

Caitlin raised her eyebrows and nudged Barry. "Ooh hoo, look at that. I think I might have my next matchmaking targets."

Barry laughed, "You're ridiculous."

"Soup's on!" Iris called as she set the pot of food on the counter.

" _Yeeees_..." Cisco muttered. "Taking down a city full of monsters makes a man hungry." He walked up to the kitchen table, followed by Tina and Henry.

"First," Joe instructed, handing all of them wine glasses. "A toast. To family."

He held up his glass and everyone else raised theirs with a responding "To family," and drank. Cisco took a long slurp of his drink. "That's my kind of toast: short and sweet; let's eat."

Joe laughed and Iris shook her head, nudging him.

Abruptly, Cisco's face went blank. Everyone at the table exchanged looks. "Cisco?" Barry asked as Cisco blinked and seemed to come back to himself. He set his glass down on the counter. "What is it?"

Cisco seemed to be in shock. He stared down at the table, mute, until Iris placed a hand on his forearm. "What did you see?"

Wally looked confused. "What do you mean 'see'?" he asked, reminding the rest of the table that he still knew nothing about the superhero lives his friends lead.

"Cisco gets visions," Caitlin explained. She felt a sickening sense of dread in her stomach, and reached out, taking Barry's hand.

"I don't understand," Cisco muttered. "Earth 2... splitting in half, straight down through the poles. Tell me I didn't just vibe the future- _please_ tell me I did not just see the end of the world."

He voice rose, frantic, scared, and everyone was silent.

Then the entire group jumped as a black figure rushed into the room and grabbed Henry Allen around the neck. Caitlin's face went dead white.

"Our story continues," Zoom growled, Henry struggling against his grasp. " _Flash_."

Then he was off, and Barry wasn't far behind.

"Henry!" Tina yelled, and Caitlin clapped a hand over her mouth, white to the tip of her nose.

Barry followed Zoom through the streets of Central City, faster then he had ever gone before.

He was afraid. He was _terrified_. His worst enemy had his father and he didn't see any reason why Zoom would spare him. This couldn't be happening- not now, not when everything seemed like it was going to be okay.

They ended up at Barry's old house, and he stepped into the open doorway, legs shaking. "Dad. Dad?"

He rounded a corner and there was his dad. But Zoom was behind him, holding him around the neck, glaring at him.

"It's poetic," Jay said, cowl off. "Returning to your childhood home."

Barry's body went leaden with dread. He knew exactly what was going to happen and he didn't think he could stop it. "Jay... don't do this. I'm begging you- I'm _begging you_ \- take me. Kill me!"

"NO!" Henry yelled forcefully.

"You still won't believe that you and I are the same," Jay said darkly.

"Please- please no-" Barry cried, tears sliding down his cheeks.

"Barry, look at me. Son, please," Henry said softly, trying to get his attention.

"So I'm gonna have to _make you_ believe me," Zoom continued.

"Whatever happens, you have made me the _happiest_ father-"

"Dad," Barry pleaded. "Please, no."

"This time, you're going to watch your parent die just like I did," Zoom growled.

"NO-"

"And it's gonna make you _just. Like. ME!"_

He stepped back, behind Henry, and Barry's father met him with one last smile. "You're mother and I love you-"

"JAY-!"

Jay slammed his vibrating fist into Henry's back.

" _NOOOOOOOOOO!_ " Barry screamed, falling to his knees as he father's lifeless body crumpled to the ground.

 **Author's Note: And on that note...**

 **I was considering having the aftermath of this (which isn't seen but I'm gonna write) in this episode, but this thing is LOOOOOONG as it is and I think it will be better for the next (last!) chapter.**


	23. 2x23

**Author's Note: Wow. Would you look at that. We made it :)**

 **I, of course, will be doing my shoutouts, word count, and page count at the end. Enjoy the last chapter of SNOWBARRY- SEASON 2!**

It took them only 15 minutes to find Barry.

Caitlin, Cisco, Harry, Iris, Joe, Wally and Jesse all arrived at Barry's old house with identical faces of sadness and fear. Cisco paused before walking inside the already open door. He went still after coming around the corner, and the rest of the group filed in after him.

Iris burst into tears and buried her face in Joe's chest. Cisco, feeling sick, reached foreword and grabbed her hand, squeezing it tightly.

Harry looked away, his face a mask, and Jesse bit her lip, glancing between the grieving faces in the room and the back down at her feet, tears pooling.

After a moment of shock, Caitlin came to her senses. The doctor side of her took over and she took a deep breath, straightening her shoulders and crouching down beside her fiancé.

"Barry?" she asked softly, placing one hand very slowly on his back. He flinched a little but didn't move. "Barry, can you hear me?"

He didn't respond, just continued to stare at Henry's dead body. Caitlin took another deep breath, willing herself not to go into hysterics like 90% of her wanted to. She was Barry's doctor right now. His health and mental condition was more important then her releasing emotion.

She turned around and locked eyes with Cisco. "There's a shock blanket in the back of the car."

She didn't have to say anything else. Cisco hurried out of the room and was back in seconds carrying a burnt orange shock blanket.

He handed it to Caitlin and she draped it carefully around Barry's shoulders. He shuddered a little, head slowly turning to stare blankly at her.

"Hey," she whispered, pressing her hand lightly to his cheek. "Come on, sweetheart, let's get you home."

She was successful in tugging him to his feet, but as soon as she tried to turn him towards the door he let out a cry and threw himself out of her arms, blanket crumpling to the floor. "NO! I can't- I won't leave him- no- no, please-"

Joe hurried foreword, and he and Caitlin each grabbed one of Barry's arms and began to try and pull him away. Barry let out a couple of choked gasps, collapsed to his knees and tried to reach for Henry again.

"Barry, please," Caitlin begged, unable to keep tears from spilling down her cheeks. "I know it- I know it hurts but... there's nothing you can do now. We won't leave him here, I promise. Let's just go home."

His arms went limp and he slumped back against her chest. Caitlin let out a soft sigh, wiped her eyes on the back of her hand, and draped the shock blanket back over his shoulders. She helped him to his feet and they drove back to her apartment in a dead sort of shocked silence.

Neither of them were hungry, though Caitlin forced down half of a banana and made Barry eat something just so he wouldn't collapse. Then they both curled up in bed. Caitlin wrapped herself around Barry, cuddling as much of his as she possibly could.

It took her a long time to fall asleep, and she watched as Barry slowly drooped into unconsciousness, his body limp and his breathing deep.

Sometime around 2:00 in the morning, he woke up with a bloodcurdling scream.

Caitlin jolted into a sitting position, heart thudding. "What is it? What's wrong?"

He was staring at the wall, tears on his cheeks. "He's not dead," Barry said softly. "He's not. It was a dream. Caitlin _please_ tell me he's not d-d-"

She tugged him into her arms and he broke down into loud sobs. Caitlin buried her face in his hair, feeling his body tremble.

They didn't sleep much more that night, just lay curled up on her bed watching the sunrise and the stars slowly blink out of sight. Caitlin wondered, then, if they would ever be able to come back from this.

How could you fix two people so broken that you could barely find their pieces?

 **Flash!**

It rained the day of Henry's funeral.

It was fitting- the sky and gloom matched the expressions on everyone's faces and the dark of their clothing. Caitlin wore the same black dress she had for her father's wedding. It still fit, and it seemed right, somehow, to put it on after all of those years.

Barry found her wearing it as she was putting up her hair and tugged her into a hug. They stood their for awhile in front of her mirror, both dressed in black, his chin resting on her shoulder and her back to his chest.

The graveyard where Nora had been buried bobbed with black umbrellas as everyone stood around Henry's fresh grave. As they walked up the grassy hill, Barry took Caitlin's hand.

"I had wanted to bring you here," he said softly, his voice cracking. "To come see my mother. But- but not like this."

She didn't know what to say, so she just squeezed his hand and stood close to him as the minister started speaking.

"Comfort us today," he said in his soothing, deep voice. "With the word of Your promise as we turn our brother to the Earth. And leave us with the hope that one day... we'll meet again."

Iris stood with Cisco under one umbrella, and her eyes dropped at the statement, falling to the mound of dirt under which Henry Allen lay. Joe took a shaky breath, and Barry's hand tightened once more around Caitlin's.

The minister closed his book and slowly turned and walked back down the hill. Barry came to stand in front of the grave, looking down at it pensively. "Um..." he started, voice tight. "My father's-"

He stopped, and opened and closed his mouth a few times, eyes turning red. "I can't do this right now."

"It's okay," Caitlin whispered, rubbing his arm. "We understand."

"Henry Allen," Joe said, taking Barry's place in front of the grave. "Henry had quite a few great losses in his life. He lost his wife Nora and... he lost Barry. He suffered guilt, embarrassment, ridicule, shame, and everything else that comes with being blamed for a crime he didn't commit. Henry Allen was proof that love can get you though the darkest of times. And that love will keep him alive in all of our hearts."

Caitlin nodded, tears stinging her eyes, and Barry slowly walked over to the pot of roses.

He picked one out and crouched in front of Henry's casket, laying the rose on the dark stone. His hand hovered for a moment over the slippery surface. "I'm gonna find him, dad," he said quietly. "I promise I'm gonna take from he what he took from you."

The group exchanged glances. The echo to Barry's words was dark and threatening, and it worried Caitlin how changed he was.

They stayed there for a long moment after each of them had laid a rose on the grave, as rain poured down and slipped off the dark casket that would forever hold Henry Allen.

 **Flash!**

They all traveled back to the West's house for a post-funeral meal. None of them were particularly hungry, however, and the food was put in the fridge for later use.

Caitlin made tea and stood with Iris and Cisco in the kitchen for awhile. Iris' eyes hadn't stopped tearing since the funeral, and she gripped onto Cisco's hand like it was the only thing keeping her down on Earth.

Barry called the three of them, along with Joe, Harry, Wally and Jesse, to the dining table.

"Guys, Zoom is still out there," he said seriously. "We need to come up with a plan."

"The man can crack open breaches to Earth 2," Cisco said dejectedly. He was sitting slumped at the table with his shirt sleeves rolled up, a steaming cup of untouched tea resting on the table in front of him. He looked just as exhausted as the rest of them felt. "I mean, if he can do that, what else can he do that we don't know about?"

"Right after he killed his Time Remanent," Barry spoke up. "He told me I was almost ready."

"Almost ready for what?" Iris asked.

"I don't know," Barry whispered, shrugging, voice so soft it was almost nonexistent.

"Classic psychopath," Cisco grumbled. "Why can't they ever just say what they want to do? We also have to figure out why I keep vibing Earth 2 being ripped to shreds."

"Seriously?" Joe asked, shaking his head wonderingly.

"It's like I'm watching Transformers in 4d." Cisco let out a long sigh. "But, like, ten times more realistic. And with much better acting."

A flicker of a smile passed Iris' face and she rested her hand on Cisco's back, gently massaging it. He let out a sigh and slumped foreword on his hand, eyes shutting halfway.

"Look, if you can vibe the future, we need to stop Zoom before that happens," Joe said.

Barry abruptly turned away from the table. "I'm gonna get some air," he mumbled, and they all heard the door open and close with a soft click.

Everyone looked at Caitlin. She sighed. "I got it."

She squeezed past Cisco's chair and grabbed a blanket off the couch before stepping outside. Barry was sitting on the porch, his red cardigan looking almost black in the dark lighting outside. His face softened a bit when he saw her, before he turned his gaze back to the empty street.

She sat beside him, giving him half of her blanket to share. He curled on arm around her, rested his chin on her head. They stayed silent for a moment.

"When I was in the Speed Force," Barry said finally. "I felt like I'd finally come to grips with her death. With not saving her when I went back. And then... the moment where I'm finally at the place I can move on... my father's taken from me. How am I ever supposed to find peace with that?"

Caitlin let out a soft sigh, and nestled her head in the crook of his neck. "Did I ever tell you about when my father died?"

He shook his head, silent now that he had said his piece.

"It wasn't... it wasn't a shock. Not like Henry's- Henry's-" She couldn't say it. "Not like Henry. He had been battling cancer for awhile, and my mother and Ronnie and I knew that it was only a matter of time before he passed away. It still... it still hurt though, and you know, it still does. I couldn't find any sort of balance or peace for a very long time. My mother was distant, and Ronnie was away at boarding college halfway across the country. I didn't have any friends to turn to and so I just buried myself in my school work and became a doctor in the hopes that maybe I could help people."

She paused, reorienting herself to the point of her statement. "It felt like as soon as I had come to terms with my father's death- had found peace- Ronnie died. And you saw how I was. I was still broken from that when you came along. But you- especially the second time he died- you helped me to see that not everything was lost. That there was still hope and that someday things will be alright. I'm not saying that I ever stopped missing my brother- or my father- but you gave me a little bit of that love that I had lost. You filled up a hole in my heart that I thought would be empty forever."

She tilted her head to look at him and gently brushed a finger over his cheek. "All I want to do for you is the same thing. I want to help you to... heal, to find peace again. It's not going to be easy and it's not going to happen right away, but I promise you, Barry, it _will_ happen."

He nodded, looking back out over the street. "I just miss him so much already."

She leaned foreword and kissed his cheek, tucking the blanket tighter around her shoulders and leaning into his chest.

A second later, a blue flash sped down the street. Caitlin felt the familiar bolt of panic, one that she now experienced every time she saw blue speedster lightning, and forced herself to breathe.

"Zoom," Barry said, and before she could stop him, he had taken off down the street.

Caitlin jolted to her feet, blanket falling from her shoulders. "Barry, no!"

Barry stopped running in the middle of the still empty street. Jay's cowl was off, his back to him, and he smirked at Barry's suit. "Bad time, Flash?"

Barry seethed quietly, hands clenched, and Jay slowly turned around. "Thought I'd give you some time to mourn." he said with a shrug.

"This ends now," Barry growled.

"Not yet," Jay disagreed. "There's always more to take, Barry."

"You're gonna stay away from them," Barry hissed.

"Well, that's completely up to you."

"What?"

Jay smiled faintly. "When we first met, I told you that Zoom needed to be the best. You just didn't realized I was talking about _myself_."

"Is that was this is about?" Barry asked, tears stinging in his eyes.

"A race!" Jay exclaimed. "A race, Barry, between you and me. To see who's the fastest. You win: this is over and you get to be the hero."

"I'm not _racing_ you," Barry spat.

Jay's facial muscles barely even twitched. "Then your father won't be the only one you love that I'll take from you. Think about it, Flash. All I wanna know is who's the fastest man alive... on either world." Jay stopped and nodded.

"I'll be waiting."

 **Flash!**

Caitlin was relieved to see Barry flash to a stop out front of the West's house.

After he had run off, Caitlin had rushed inside to tell the rest of the Team what had happened. Everyone looked their own form of worried, from Iris' grip tightening on the back of Cisco's chair, and Harry's tensed jaw.

They had debated going back to STAR Labs and using Barry's tracker before Cisco came up with the point that Barry wasn't wearing his suit and wouldn't be able to be tracked. So they stayed where they were, huddled around the West's dining room table, cups of tea getting colder and colder.

Finally, the sound of Speed Lightning made them all look up. Caitlin hurried out of her chair and to the window.

"It's him," she reported to a collective sigh of relief from everyone else.

The relief of short lived. Barry came in with a swirling mess of anger and frustration, and blurted out every part of his and Zoom's conversations.

He clenched his fists on top of the table, looking as if he was punching the wood, head hanging down. "I'm going to race him."

"What?!" Iris cried.

"Barry, you can't do that!" Cisco exclaimed at the same time. "You're going to _race_ Zoom? What the heck?"

"He will kill you all if I don't," Barry growled. "And I _cannot_ let that happen."

He straightened up and took a heavy breath. "It's not up for discussion. I'm racing him, with or without your help."

 **Flash!**

"Baer."

Barry turned from the empty cell doors of the Pipeline to see Joe walking down the steps.

"Don't race him," Joe pleaded.

Barry shook his head with a long sigh. He had been stupid to think that the rest of his team would have let it go. "It's not that easy."

"It is," Joe argued. "You just say no. Find another way to stop him- together. Like we always do."

"And do what, Joe?" Barry asked, stepping closer. "Just sit around, waiting for him to kill somebody else? Iris. Caitlin. You. No. No way."

"He needs you Baer," Joe exclaimed. "He needs your speed to power that... _thing_ that Harry discovered- _we have the advantage here_."

Barry let out a slow sigh, calming his anger. When he spoke his voice was low. "All I have to do is beat him, Joe. That saves the _multiverse_. This whole city. All of you! I won't let another person I love die when I can prevent it."

Joe's face looked grave. "This isn't just about racing Zoom, is it? You... you wanna kill this guy."

"OF COURSE I WANNA KILL HIM, JOE!" Barry yelled suddenly. "I want to do more then just kill him- I want him to _suffer_ for everything that he's done. And he's going to. For killing my father and scaring Caitlin for _life_ , and for terrorizing _my city_."

Joe held up his hands, looking alarmed. "Calm down, Baer! Think about what you're saying."

Barry swallowed, reigning in his temper. "I have to be willing to do whatever it takes," he said quietly. "So I'm going to race him, whether you want me to or not."

"So I can't talk you out of it."

Barry shook his head. "Not this time. I'm sorry."

He turned away, but stopped when he heard Joe say, "Then I'm sorry, too."

All at once, a stinging pain erupted in Barry's shoulder. Barry lurched against the wall of the Pipeline, staring in horror at the dart in his back... and the gun in Harry's hand.

"If it makes you feel any better," Harry said soft voice, sounding like he was coming through a tunnel. "I made the tranq, not Snow."

Barry was out before he could respond.

 **Flash!**

Barry woke up slowly, unsure of where he was.

It came rushing back to him faster that he would have liked- Zoom; Henry's death; being hit by the dart and passing out...

He sat up, staring around him. He was in the pipeline... but not standing in the hallway.

He was in a cell.

Barry pushed himself up a little bit and his eyes caught what was going on outside his cell. The entirety of Team Flash was standing outside, watching him like he was something on display in a zoo.

"What're you doing?" Barry mumbled, hurt and betrayal flashing across his face. "Why did you put me in here?"

He got to his feet, staring them down, and his eyes landed on Caitlin. She was standing somewhat in the back, like she wasn't sure she wanted to be apart of all of this, and she didn't meet his gaze. Her eyes were red and blotchy, like she had been crying.

It didn't make him feel any better.

"Because you're too angry right now," Joe spoke up. "You can't race him like that. Without a plan... you'll lose."

"You keeping me in here is going to get everyone killed," Barry said hoarsely, leaning against the front of the glass with his head hanging down. "I'm the only one who can stop him- you know that!"

Harry stepped foreword. He didn't seem to be at all remorseful at putting Barry in a cell, but that was just his way. "You race Zoom on his terms... you lose."

"This is not your decision to make!" Barry yelled, slamming his fist against the glass.

Joe's jaw tightened. "It is this time."

Barry turned away from the glass with a sob of frustration.

"We all made it together."

He turned back, towards his friends. The people he had grown up with. The people he worked with every day. The people he loved and cared about.

"What?" his gaze flashed to Caitlin, then to Cisco, then to Iris. "All of you?"

"Well, I went back and forth," Cisco said, "I was, like, a good 60-40 at first-"

"Ramon," Harry warned.

"Yeah." Cisco let out a long sigh. "All of us."

Barry turned away again, his gut clenching. Harry kept watching him. "Allen," he said. "Allen! This is for your own good."

"Don't do this," Barry pleaded as Harry walked over to the controls. "Guys; come on- Caitlin- Cisco, come on- you have to let me out- _you have to let me stop him_ -"

He broke off, because the door was already closed.

 **Flash!**

Caitlin broke down into tears a couple steps after clearing the corner.

"Cisco-" she sobbed, covering her face with her hands. "Cisco, what did we _do_? He hates me- he hates me, Cisco. I-I locked him up and-"

She slid to the ground, choking on her tears and letting out a very un-Caitlin-like wail.

Cisco stared down at her in alarm and grabbed her in a fierce hug. "Hey, no, no, no- he doesn't hate you, Caitlin. Barry could never hate you. He's going to see that this was the right thing to do when he calms down, I promise. Okay? Okay. So just... just breathe, alright? Take a deep breath."

Once she had calmed down some, she and Cisco made their way to the Cortex.

It didn't take long for Team Flash to come up with a plan. It was crazy, and it made Caitlin nervous on so many different levels. She wanted with everything in her that she could go and talk to Barry, but she knew that was impossible. It would be a piece of cake for him to convince her to let him out of the Pipeline, considering she wanted to do it already.

Still... he _did_ need to eat, and feeding the metas was her job. Nobody questioned it as she took a few treys of Big Belly Burger and other takeout places down to the basement prison and opened up the doors.

She saved delivering Barry's food last, and found her hands were shaking as she called his cell to the opening.

He was lying on the floor with his head resting on his arm, eyes closed. They flickered up when his cell started moving, and he stood up when he saw her.

"Cait-"

"Barry-" she said at the same time.

Both of them stopped, and for a moment there was a long, awkward silence.

"I... brought you dinner," Caitlin said awkwardly. "Couple of Big Belly Burgers."

"I'm not hungry," Barry said dully. He wasn't looking at her.

"Well, you should try to eat something," Caitlin responded, busying herself with the bag and passing it to him through the slot.

He didn't pick up the food, just continued to stare at some place right pass her shoulder. Caitlin let out a shaky sight and walked closer to the glass. "Barry..."

"You should go."

Her breath caught. "Barry, please."

"I said you should go."

He looked up at her then, his eyes red-rimmed and hard. Caitlin swallowed back her tears and nodded. "I- I'm so sorry. I know that you'll probably hate me for the rest of your life... but I really am sorry, Barry."

He didn't respond again and she turned to leave. Right before she left the room, she looked over her shoulder. "I- I love you."

His eyes welled up but he still stayed silent.

Caitlin left the Pipeline.

 **Flash!**

Harry jogged towards a set of metal poles and a few pipes at the back of the abandoned lot, gun hanging over his shoulder. "Okay," he reported. "I'm in position."

"Copy that," Jesse responded. "We got you."

"Okay," Harry said again. "Snow? You ready?"

Caitlin hesitated a moment, twisting her hands in front of her. She didn't like this plan, but it seemed to be the best one they had. "As ready as I can be."

"Cisco," Joe called into the coms. "Cisco, you good?"

Cisco peeked out from behind an unused control box from a high leverage point. "Define good," he muttered.

"Ramon," Harry piped up. "You're gonna be great." He paused, then, "Snow, when you're ready.

"Okay," Caitlin said, her voice wavering a bit.

Iris turned from her spot around the street footage. She locked eyes with Caitlin. "You got this."

Caitlin took a shuddering breath and nodded. "Here we go."

Jay was tightening a few screws on the machine he was creating when he heard a voice.

"Jay?"

His eyes went wide and he dropped his screwdriver. "Caitlin."

Then he flashed off, finding her in the center of an abandoned lot.

"How did you find me?" Jay demanded, unaware of the surveillance above his head. Harry tightened his grip on his gun and Cisco took a deep breath. They waited.

"Dr. McGee said the Magnitar was stollen from her labs- I knew that it had to be you, so I tracked you here." Caitlin answered, her hands tightening and loosening convulsively at her sides. " _I_ tracked you here, Jay; no one else knows."

Jay glared down at her untrustingly. "I told you before you left me-"

"That if betrayed you you'd show me no mercy," Caitlin completed. "I know. But I just want to explain _why_ I did that- please, Jay."

It sickened her to have to spew the lies that came next. She had never felt anything for Jay Garrick, even as he tried again and again to win her heart. It killed her to play the part of someone who had "made a mistake" at returning to her friends.

"Talk," Jay demanded.

"Good job, girl," Iris said in her ear. "Now draw him towards you."

"I made a mistake," Caitlin said, taking a few small steps foreword. "I am _so sorry_ that I abandoned you. But you have to understand: what you said to me- that- that there was a dark side of me... that I was- I was more like Killer Frost then I knew... I didn't want to accept that."

 _Lies, lies, lies._

"I tried to lock the darkness inside of me up," Caitlin continued. "But you knew that that was already apart of me now. And you're the only one who did."

It was working. Jay was beginning to step closer to her, so close that she could reach out and touch him if she had wanted to.

"And now, I am ready to accept who I _really am_ ," Caitlin said, going in for the final point. "I am so sorry that I hurt you. But now... I want to be the one that only you know. Please, Jay. Let me try."

Everything hung on his response. Would he give her a chance, and give the rest of the Team time to get into position and take him out?

Or...

"One more step..." Joe murmured.

"I-" Jay started, looking torn. "I knew you'd eventually come around, Caitlin."

She pasted a smile on her face, and Jay let out a sigh, stepping foreword. "But it's too late."

With one quick swoop of his arm, he vibrated his hand and sent it plunging through Caitlin's stomach.

The holograph of Caitlin Snow flickered and blinked out. Caitlin, safe inside the van with Jesse and Iris, watched in anticipation as the next events unfolded.

Joe shot The Boot onto Jay's neck. It flashed with electricity, causing him to bring his hands up to his neck in pain.

"Now Ramon!" Harry yelled.

Cisco extended his arm and opened up a breach right behind of Jay. Joe reached for another gun, aimed, and-

The trigger locked. "Dang it!" Joe muttered, fiddling with the trigger.

Harry shot a blast of his gun at Jay. The speedster fell, grasping his arm.

"Tranq him. Tranq him!" Harry yelled, sprinting across the lot.

"Gun's jammed," Joe reported in frustration, rushing out of his hiding spot.

Joe rushed up to Jay and slammed both of his needles into the man's shoulders. Jay let out a pained groan, still struggling with the boot around his neck, and Harry took one last shot with his gun.

Jay fell back into the breach, taking Joe West along with him.

 **Flash!**

They filed back to STAR Labs a subdued group. Iris immediately enlisted Cisco in vibing Joe, and the tech wiz shut his eyes, face scrunching.

It wasn't long before the vibe ended and he reached up, rubbing his forehead.

"Did you see my dad?" Iris asked.

"No; the vibe keeps changing. It's like... my brain is channel surfing or something," Cisco responded with a sigh. "I'm sorry, Iris."

"He must be on the move," Caitlin suggested. "That's why the vibe's in flux. Keep trying."

Cisco took a seat, and Caitlin turned as Harry and Jesse came into the Cortex. "Hey. Did you turn off the magnatar?"

"No," Harry said stiffly. "There's no messing with that thing. Whatever you do to it- we try to touch it, we try to move it- this planet's done for."

Wally came in after them, eyes landing on his sister. "Iris!" He glanced around, noting all of the long faces. "What's wrong?"

Iris walked up to him hesitantly, not looking like she wanted to break the news. "Zoom took dad," she said, her voice wavering a bit.

"What? How?"

"We tried to stop Zoom by pushing him through the breach, but..." Caitlin sighed. "He took Joe with him."

Wally shook his head, uncomprehending. "Well- Where's Barry? Did he go after him?"

"No, he's not with us- he's in a cell in the Pipeline..." Jesse trailed off as her father cleared his throat, sending her a warning look.

Wally's face went pale, then accusing. "Wait. You tried to stop Zoom alone?"

Iris looked down, tears welling in her eyes. Harry placed his gun down on the table unsympathetically. "Long story. "

Wally walked a couple steps away, staring at the wall. Caitlin watched him sadly as he turned back around, looking like he was trying not to cry. "Well, we have to get him back," he said.

Iris turned to him. "Wally, before Zoom took dad, we all agreed that if we got him off this Earth, we would close the breaches for good and we would... _never_ open them again. Under any circumstances."

It was true. It was the part of the agreement that Caitlin had hated- that and the bit about locking Barry up. But it was necessary. There was nothing much else they could do.

"W- Why- why would you do that?" Wally murmured, his voice low and rough from trying to reign in his anger and fear. Iris didn't respond. "No- no way! That's not gonna happen."

A tear ran down Iris' cheek. "He made us all agree to it."

"Well guess what?" Wally yelled. "I didn't agree to that."

"Wally!" Iris tried.

"Iris, I already lost my mom. If dad- I-" His voice broke and he abruptly turned away from her and walked out of the Cortex.

 **Flash!**

Barry was slumped in his cage when the door suddenly opened. He stood up, looking around curiously, and found Wally West at the control panel.

"Look," he said, staring at Barry with a look of untamed emotion. "Everyone's gonna freak when they find out I did this, but I don't care. We need your help, Barry."

Barry felt then, in his gut, that something had gone wrong. It didn't surprise him- leaving a Team full of people who couldn't fight a speedster up against said speedster didn't make for very good odds.

He stepped out of his cage.

Up in the Cortex, a Pipeline alert starting beeping. Jesse strode over to the computer. "Uh, guys? Barry's not-"

The sound of speed lightning cut her off. Barry flashed into the room with Wally.

"...In his cell anymore." Jesse finished dully.

Caitlin felt a little bit guilty for the surge of relief she felt when she saw Barry standing in his suit, free from the confines of the Pipeline. She had wanted him to be safe... but she had wanted to be with him more.

"Wally!" Iris yelled angrily.

"I wasn't just gonna stand here and let this happen," Wally shot back defiantly.

Barry looked mad. He looked upset. He looked scared.

Basically, he didn't look at all happy.

"How could you let him take Joe?!" Barry demanded. He was glaring straight at Harry, and Caitlin felt another slightly guilty surge of relief that the look wasn't directed at her. "What the heck were you thinking?"

"Allen, there was nothing we could do." Harry said.

" _You could have let me race him!"_ Barry bellowed.

"ALLEN!" Harry exclaimed. "You are _not_ racing Zoom."

"What? Are you going to tranq me again?" Barry asked, glaring at him.

" _Don't tempt me_ ," Harry hissed, glaring back.

Barry turned away with a huff of frustration. "Okay, I know you guys made a pact to keep Zoom on Earth 2, but you did that without me and Wally. Alright, you don't _get to do that_."

This was probably the most upset that Caitlin had ever seen Barry. It was a scary kind of upset, the kind of upset that made her believe that he was possible of hurting people. It terrified her.

"Barry, look at yourself right now," Cisco shouted. "You're not okay."

"Cisco, my dad was just killed in front of my eyes," Barry bellowed, striding up to him. "Do you have any idea of what that feels like?!"

This had gone to far.

"Watching someone you love die?!" Caitlin cried, stepping foreword and grabbing onto Barry's upper arm so that he would look at her. " _Yes_. I do. Which is exactly why we did this, because I can't lose you, too!"

"Cait-" he broke up, pulling away from her and rubbing his hands through his hair.

"Look, Barry, I know how upset and angry and distant loss can make you feel," she continued. "But when this happened to me _you_ were the one that was there for me. You told me to stop and take a breath, and that's all we're telling you to do now."

"I'm telling you, I'm good," Barry insisted, and while he did sound quite a bit calmer, Caitlin had trouble believing that that was true.

"Really?" Harry asked. "You're good? Because it seems to me that you want to do more the just stop Zoom. It seems to me that you want revenge. If that's why you're doing this Allen _you. Will. Lose_."

Barry seemed at a loss for words for a moment. He shook his head a few times, taking a deep breath. "Look, you guys. I- you may not think I can do this-"

Caitlin opened her mouth to contradict but Barry kept going.

"You may think I'm too angry. But we're running out of time. I have to beat him. And I'm going to. Whether I have your help or not." He stared at them all in turn, looking at Caitlin last. Pleading with her, just through his eyes. "So which is it?"

Caitlin and Cisco exchanged looks. This was their life, and Barry was apart of it.

They barely even had to think before nodding.

Fifteen minutes later, Cisco and Barry were deep in a vibe, and Barry was challenging Zoom to a race.

 **Flash!**

Caitlin finally got Barry alone in the Cortex. She wasn't sure where the rest of the team was, or if they had given them the room on purpose or not, but either was she was extremely grateful.

"Barry..." Caitlin started. "I know that- I know that with everything I did... I can't possibly expect you to forgive me so soon. But I just- I just need you to tell me... Do you- do you-" She hated herself for the tears that started welling in her eyes. This wasn't about her being weak and pitiful and making him forgive her. This was about _him_. "Do you think that you will _ever_ forgive me?"

He stopped whatever he was doing and turned to look at her, face soft. Before she knew it, she was wrapped in a giant Barry-hug. "Caitlin... yes, of course I forgive you."

"R-Really?" she sniffled, burying her face in his shirt and wrapping her arms around his neck. "Even though I locked you up and- and caused Joe to get kidnapped and-"

"Caitlin, that wasn't your fault," Barry cut her off. "None of this- none of this has ever been your fault. My dad's death, or my- my brokenness, or Zoom or anything."

She nodded, a little tearfully. "Are you going to be okay?"

"Me?" Barry huffed a laugh. "You're the one that's making my shirt wet."

She shoved him halfheartedly in the shoulder. It was a little awkward, considering she was still buried in his arms, but it made him laugh.

"I'm serious, Barry."

"I know, that's why I'm not," he nuzzled her neck playfully, and she giggled. "But... yeah. I- I'm getting there. You make it better, you know."

She smiled, kissing him . "I'm glad to hear that."

 **Flash!**

The entirety of Team Flash was out on the pavement. Barry was ready in his suit, cowl off. He watched them all. "Get back to STAR Labs; it's safer."

"We're not going anywhere. You've got eyes and ears right here," Cisco said, nodding determinedly.

"Either he goes, or we all die together," Caitlin added.

Barry smiled gently at her and leaned down and kissed her. She gave him a tight hug, whispering something in his ear that only he could hear.

He smiled, pulling back, and nodded at the rest of his Team. Then he turned and ran to the middle of the parking lot.

"Jay!" Barry yelled.

The dark speedster turned to him, looking maniacally pleased that he had showed up. "Ah. Ready to race?"

"What're the rules?" Barry asked, staring him down. He had never felt so much hate for one singular human being then he did for Jay.

"One lap around the inside of the loop will produce about one gigawatt of energy," Jay responded. "And I need 500 plus to power the magnitar enough to do the job. Once it's full, I win. Because there is no stopping it."

Barry took in the giant machine, then looked back to Jay. He felt surprisingly confident about his odds, Caitlin's words right before he left ringing in his head.

 _If you can't stop Jay, I don't know who can. I believe in you._

"So all I need to do is stop you before that happens," Barry said.

"Yep," Jay agreed, looking at the magnitar too. "That simple. But if, at any point, you decide you don't want to race anymore, Dear Old Dad #2's a dead man, as well as your little fan-club."

Barry's eyes slid to Joe, tied to a chair and looking surprisingly unafraid. The amount of faith he had in Barry and his ability filled the speedster with another rush of confidence. He could do this.

 _He had to_.

"They're not my fan-club," Barry corrected in an even, hatful voice. "They're the reason I'm running. Why I'm gonna beat you."

Jay scoffed, disbelieving, but didn't say anything else. They lined up, and Barry crouched slightly into his running position.

"Let's see what you're made up," Jay said. " _Flash_."

They both pulled their cowls up. "Just say when, Zoom," Barry responded, eyes ahead.

" _Run Barry_ ," Zoom growled. " _RUN!_ "

They took off.

Barry followed Zoom across the large wheel of the magnitar. The surface was smooth, a little slippery, and Zoom wove around it in an unpredictable pattern. This was going to be tougher then Barry had thought.

Soon, small lights of electricity began swirl around the small ball at the center of the machine. "He's powering up the magnitar," Harry reported worriedly.

The two streaks of light kept going, faster and faster, as more and more lightning joined the first bits in the center. "Come on Barry..." Cisco muttered. "Catch him."

Now a bright white stream of energy had come out from the center of the ball, shooting past the top of the magnitar and headed for the sky. A burst of reddish light, like the tinted smoke after a firework, flashed in the sky.

Jesse squinted in confusion as the Flash's yellow lightening streak suddenly turned into two. "Which one's Barry?"

"Both of them," Caitlin breathed. "He made a Time Remanent."

As one Barry chased down Zoom, the other flashed over to Joe and hurriedly unlocked his handcuffs. "Go!" he ordered, cutting off Joe's confused exclamations. "Go! I'll explain later, Joe."

The Barry chasing Zoom was suddenly knocked out of his circular orbit and landed on the ground, Zoom hovering over him.

"I'll admit, you stole my trick, Flash," Zoom growled. Behind him, the magnitar sparked and lit up like a Christmas tree. "But you're _too late_. Bye bye, _multiverse_."

Barry jolted off of his back and ran at Zoom. They flashed around each other in a whirlwind of punches and dodges, each trying to land the better blow. The other Barry had moved from his spot around the wheel of the magnitar and was now running around the lower part, around the orb.

"What's the time remanent doing?" Caitlin asked, confused.

"It's creating its own pulse," Cisco realized wonderingly.

"Why would he do that?" Jesse asked.

Harry grinned. "Because! If that's out of faze, so is that one." He pointed to the larger wheel and the spoke of light streaming into the sky.

"Wait; his body can't handle that!" Caitlin cried, realization hitting her.

"Then what's gonna happen?"

Caitlin went cold. "He'll... die."

Suddenly, the yellow stream running around the bottom of the magnitar vanished. A puff of yellow energy shot up the stream of light, toward the swirling cloud in the sky.

The whole thing disappeared, along with Barry.

"NOOOOO!" Zoom yelled, and Barry- the non-time-remanent one- took that opportunity to land another hit on him.

They took off again, over walls and across buildings, before they suddenly came into view, Barry slamming Zoom against a control box.

The whole thing buckled under the force, and now Barry had the upper hand.

He attacked Zoom with his fists, chasing him and flipping him onto his back. Barry leaned over him, ripping off his mask. His hand shot back, vibrating.

"You're a hero, Barry," Zoom murmured, his lips caked in blood. "You couldn't kill me before. You won't kill me now."

Barry seethed, hand still vibrating, but suddenly a breach opened.

Team Flash turned as one, watching as a two terrifying, dark shapes zoomed out of the swirling mass and flew towards Barry and Zoom.

 _Time Wraiths_.

Barry lunged over Zoom, smiling triumphantly. "I don't have to."

The Time Wraiths zipped towards Zoom, swirling around him and yanking a scream of agony from his lips. By the time they grabbed him by the arms and dragged him into the sky, all that was left was a decaying scull and a black flash suit, still yelling in hoarse pain.

Then, just like that, they were gone.

 **Flash!**

"Okay, so," Wally was in full recap mode, still trying to understand what had gone on over the past few hours. "You went back in time and made a... copy of yourself...?"

"Well-" Barry broke off, then shrugged. "Yeah. Basically."

"It's called a Time Remanent," Jesse explained.

"It's not something that I can do every day, but I needed a way to draw the Time Wraiths out of the Speed Force," Barry said, sticking his hands in his pockets. "I just hoped they'd be more upset at what Zoom had done then they'd be at me."

Wally looked bewildered. Joe nudged Iris. "Is that what I look like when they start talking about science?"

"Pretty much," Iris said, grinning.

"Don't worry Wally," Joe called. "It'll get easier to understand."

"B-But how does that even work?" Wally persisted, brow furrowing. He seemed rather annoyed that everyone was understanding this except him.

"Same way Zoom did it," Barry explained. "I ran back in time moments before I left. It's the only way I could be in two places at once."

"Okay, okay," Wally nodded a few times, itching his ear. "So the "Time Remanent"- it's still you."

The question made Barry pause. "Yeah," he said softly.

A suddenly subdued air landed heavily on the group. "But..." Caitlin said. "He died."

"Yeah," Barry agreed. "He was... willing to sacrifice himself for all of you." He looked over, smiling a little at Caitlin.

She returned the expression, titling her head. "That's how much he loved us," she whispered.

"You know what," Wally said, hurriedly trying to make the room a bit brighter. "We'll just forget about it- Barry, I'm, uh, I'm glad you're okay."

He broke into a lightly bewildered laugh and Barry grinned, shaking his head.

Over on the other side of the Cortex, Cisco and Harry were working on taking off the mask of the man who had been trapped in Zoom's lair. Barry had thought to go back for him after he defeated Zoom, and was glad he did. He just hoped that Harry and Cisco could figured out a way to free him from the mask.

"In battle," Harry was saying. "Choose your weapon wisely. Some would choose a gun: I choose a Philips Head Screwdriver."

"Oh, okay," Cisco said, rolling his eyes and taking the tool. "I'm sorry, you're so _particular_."

"Ramon, can you just _please_ \- have you never worked with a tool before?"

"I'm working with one now," Cisco muttered snidely.

"Are you ready?" Harry asked. "One... two... and-"

He twisted the lock in the back off the mask, the whole thing pulled off.

"Ugh," the man inside said. Cisco stared at him in shock. Barry frowned. That voice had sounded rather familiar. "I don't know which is more annoying: being in that thing, or listening to you two arguing about it."

The man turned around, and slowly everyone in the room stood up.

It was Henry Allen.

"Um..." Barry actually felt the blood draining from his face. "You're..."

"I'm Jay Garrick," the man in the mask introduced himself. "The _real_ Jay Garrick."

Barry's gaze fell, and a keen sense of disappointment flooded him. It wasn't as if it was possible for it to be his dad, actually alive... but he had seen some pretty trippy things in his time, and it could have happened. But instead...

This was too much, too soon.

"What?" Jay asked, frowning.

The walls were closing in. Barry couldn't breath. "I'm sorry-" he choked out. "I'm sorry."

He hurried for the door, ignoring the concerned glances of the rest of his team. He got only a couple of steps down the hall before he collapsed against the wall, heaving for breath, tears streaming down his face.

Caitlin came slowly around the corner, approaching him cautiously. She was very aware the he was either having or close to having a panic attack, and she didn't want to do anything to make it worse.

"It looks just like him," Barry gasped, staring up at her with wide eyes. "He looks just like my dad, Caitlin. I can't believe this- my dad told me- he- he said his- his mom's maiden name was Garrick. I just never thought that- that- that- never thought-"

"Barry," Caitlin cut him off as he came hurriedly towards her, covering the bottom half of his face as more tears dripped off his chin. "Barry, he doesn't know that. He doesn't know that he's your dad's doppelganger. Okay? Okay- breath, Barry. Do want me to tell him that you had to leave?"

"N-No. No." Barry took a couple of shuddering breaths, gripping her shoulders like a lifeline.

"You sure?"

"Yeah-" he pulled away, looking like he was going to throw up. "I just need a minute. I'll be alright."

He leaned against the wall, taking a couple more deep breaths, and Caitlin walked over to him, reaching out to rub his back. "Take your time," she whispered. "Just keep breathing, okay?"

He nodded, and she could feel his body trembling under her hand. He turned a little bit and resting his forehead on top of her shoulder. "I couldn't- I couldn't breath back in there," he muttered. "I just can't- can't- oh _God-_ I feel sick-"

"Okay," Caitlin gently lowered him to the ground. He was definitely having a panic attack, and in the middle of the corridor, a spot where they were very close to attracting unneeded attention, was one the worst places this could have happened. It honestly didn't surprise her with everything that had happened in the last couple of days that he was getting this worked up. She was more surprised it hadn't happened sooner then this. "Close your eyes, Barry. Listen to my voice. Okay? That's it. Squeeze my hand. Tightly."

He fumbled for her hand, wrapping his fingers around it and squeezing. She was struck by the amount of trust he had for her and her ability to care for him.

"I want you to focus on one word. Just repeat it in your head over and over until you feel like you can breath again, okay?" She reached over and starting running her fingers through his hair, and action that he had, on other occasions, seemed to like.

"What word?" Barry asked, gripping her hand tighter. "I don't- I think I'm gonna be sick, Caitlin."

"You're okay," Caitlin said calmly, wiping the sweat and tears off of his face. His eyes opened back up again, looking glazed. "It doesn't matter what word you pick, okay? How about... uh..." She hurriedly struggled for a word that couldn't be related to any painful memories. Everything that was coming to mind wasn't helping. "Um... Okay, okay, forget the word."

She turned and kneeled in front of him, making sure he was looking at her. "What kind of cake are we having at our wedding?"

He blinked, confused. "I don't understand-"

"What kind of cake are we having at our wedding?" Caitlin repeated. "I happen to like chocolate quite a bit, if that helps. Describe the cake to me."

"Uh... okay?" Barry frowned for a moment. "Uh ch-chocolate, then... with white icing and maybe a- a- lightning bolt on it? Going around the bottom?"

"That sounds really good," Caitlin said, noting how his pupils were starting to look less dilated and his breathing was evening out. Good to know; distraction helped more then mantras when dealing with panic attacks. She had always found that helped her more, too. "Alright, do you think we should have lightning bolts on our invites, too? To match the cake?"

He smiled a little bit. Actually smiled. Caitlin could have cried for the joy of it. "I think that'd be nice. We could have them white with a red lightning bolt around the rim-"

He stopped and gave her a quizzical look. "You just...?"

"Distracted you, yes," Caitlin smiled, leaning down and kissing his forehead. "You're all good now? No more nausea?"

He shook his head, looking at her wonderingly. "You're amazing."

She giggled, helping him to his feet and dragging him into a long hug. "No, I'm you're doctor. Come on- let's go get you cleaned up."

 **Flash!**

By the time they walked back into the Cortex, Jay was dressed in full Flash regalia, and Cisco and Harry were explaining the reason for his power loss.

"See, see, the reason you didn't have your powers was that there was a power dampener in the mask," Cisco said, handing Jay the piece of metal. "See?"

Jay looked down at the mask with barely contained hatred. "I don't want to see this thing ever again," he said, and vibrated his hand straight through it.

The mask broke into three pieces and Cisco nodded. "So... your powers are back."

"I see that Jay- excuse me- _Hunter_ , stole your color scheme, too." Joe pointed out, nodding at Jay's suit.

"A lot of those things were mine," Jay said, making a face. Then his gaze landed on the metal helmet. "Except for that- that's all him."

"He said it was his father's from the war," Iris said, rolling her eyes.

"Ironically," Harry spoke up. "On my Earth- on _our_ Earth-" he nodded at Jesse, who smiled. "This helmet stood for hope."

"Yeah..." Jay murmured. "Well, maybe I can continue that sentiment." He reached foreword and took the helmet from Harry's hands, placing it on his head. "Take something from him for a change. Make it my own."

He placed the metal helmet on his head, and Caitlin smiled. "It's suits you."

She reached over and took Barry's hand, rubbing her thumb over it. He gave her a weak smile, then turned back to his father's doppelganger.

"Thank you," Jay said. "All of you. For saving me from Zoom. Especially you, Flash."

Barry glanced up, took a deep breath, and nodded. "You're welcome. Flash."

Jay tipped his hat to him, and turned to Cisco. "Now, all I have to do is find my way home."

"Where's that?" Wally asked.

Jay frowned a moment. "I think you would call it... Earth 3."

"Uh huh," Cisco muttered thoughtfully. "Well, I can get you to Earth 2."

Harry looked up, smiling. "My daughter and I can help you with the rest."

Jesse gave him a quizzical look. "We can?"

"Yes we can. We're going home."

 **Flash!**

After Harry and Jesse had departed for Earth 2 (with promises to return for Caitlin and Barry's wedding), the remainder of the Team had filtered back to Joe's house.

The mood was subdued. They were triumphant, of course, at saving the world once again. But they had lost a member of their team along the way, and that wasn't easy for any of them, especially Barry.

Caitlin found him on the front steps, like she had after Henry's funeral. She left Cisco and Iris cuddling together on the couch, watching the news, and took her spot beside him.

He was silent for a moment, and she sat, waiting, staring up at the stars.

"I can't stop thinking about my dad's doppelganger," Barry said softly after awhile. "Seeing him... knowing that he's out there- that should've made it easier. It doesn't. It just made me miss him even more."

"I can't even imagine how hard that must of been," Caitlin murmured in agreement.

"We just won," Barry said, looking hopeless. "We just _beat Zoom_. So why does it feel like I just lost?"

"Because you have lost _so_ much, Barry," Caitlin said, leaning foreword. "More then anyone ever should."

"I haven't lost you." He held his arm out, and she curled into his side.

"No," Caitlin said softly, smiling. "And you never will."

Suddenly, Barry straightened up, digging in his pocket. "I almost forgot... after we defeated Zoom and I went to get the Man in the Iron Mask, I made a pitstop."

Caitlin tilted her head, leaning back and watching as he pulled something small out of his pocket and held it in his fist.

"Can I see your left hand, Mrs. Snow-Allen-to-Be?" Barry asked with a small smile.

A feeling of warmth spread across Caitlin's chest as she handed him her left hand and he slipped a small, perfect diamond ring onto her ring finger. Tears sprang into her eyes. "You- you found it."

Barry nodded, looking a bit teary himself. "He put it in one of the drawers. It took me a bit, but I found it."

Caitlin grabbed him in a tight hug and he kissed her soundly on the lips. "Marry me?"

She laughed. "Of course."

And maybe right there, on the porch of the Wests house, was where Barry Allen and Caitlin Snow got their happy ending.

Well.

Maybe not an ending quite yet.

 **Author's Note: ...**

 **...**

 **...**

 **I think I'm actually in shock. Like, legit.**

 **HOLY CRUD WE ACTUALLY FINISHED IT!** ** _I_** **ACTUALLY FINISHED! AND I ACTUALLY STILL HAD PEOPLE READING IT BY THE TIME I DID! :O :O :O**

 **I have come so far with this story, have done so much, have watched so** ** _so_** **many Flash scenes. It feels unreal that it's finally done.**

 **Well, as the ending said, maybe not** ** _quite_** **done. I'm still looking foreword to your PMs telling me what extra episodes I should do :)**

 ** _PLEEEASE write me those PMs! If you don't know what I mean, look at the ending AN for chapter 22!_**

 **Now time for some shoutouts!**

 **~ Druto**

 **~ Matthew G Given**

 **~ giddyfan**

 **~ BarryCaitlin**

 **~ luv2read2**

 **~ GravityOddity**

 **~ Arrowman**

 **~ josephguy217**

 **~ silentdeath2-2**

 **~ Eliley**

 **~ Black Lion 01**

 **~ CallMeMiles**

 **~ All the Guest reviewers**

 **~ And... EVERYONE ELSE THAT HAS STUCK WITH ME THROUGHOUT THIS CRAZY, IRREGULARLY POSTED, EMOTIONAL RIDE OF A STORY! I want to say a HUUUUUGE thank you to ALL OF YOU, because you are all COMPLETELY SPECTACULAR! I love you all!**

 **And here you go, just for the heck of it:**

 **Page count: 216**

 **Word count: 105,690**

 **Keep staying awesome, everyone! And stay tuned for the continuation of this story:** ** _Snowbarry-Season Extras!_**


	24. IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT! (please read :)

Hello!

Usually, I try to refrain from doing chapters that are just Author's Notes. But it seems that almost no one reads the Author's Notes at the beginnings of chapters, so I feel that it is important for this information to be in an announcement.

I WILL NOT BE DOING SNOWBARRY SEASON 3, _HOWEVER_...

I _will_ be doing a story called "Snowbarry- Season Extras." It is going to include several episodes from Seasons 3+ (as in Season 3, Season 4, and any other seasons the Flash has), which will be mostly unrelated and take place once Caitlin and Barry are married.

If you wish for me to do a specific episode from any such seasons, send me a PM or comment on this "chapter."

Thanks for the support, and I hope to hear from you!

— Write-To-You


	25. ANNOTHER, EVEN BETTER, ANNOUNCEMENT!

Heeeeeey. It's me again.

ALRIGHT so we've had a change of plans. The fact that I am _not_ doing Season 3 still stands BUT! BUUUUUUT!

I WILL BE DOING SEASON FOUR YAAAAY!

Okay, so here's my reasoning: I was talking with my cousins who also watches the Flash the other day, and found out that she skipped the entirety of Season 3 and wasn't at all confused when she came to Season 4. THAT'S WHEN I REALIZED: All of the characters that are added in Season 3... they are all gone by Season 4. You could make an easy, flawless transition from Season 2 plot to Season 4 with just the simple add on of 3x07 and 3x18 (both of which I am doing, btw).

NOT ONLY THAT, but Julian isn't in Season 4! I will have no problem writing Snowbarry without him there. Also, WestAllen for Season 4 is much more easily replaceable with Snowbarry then Season 3 was.

I KINDA GET THE FEELING THAT YOU GUYS ARE GOING TO BE EXCITED ABOUT THIS. Heck, _I'm_ excited for this, even with all of the work and the fact that I thought I was done :D

THANKS AGAIN FOR EVERYTHING! _YOU GUYS ARE AMAZING_ :)


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